
Ctass . 
Book. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



U. *'-l''^>=' "lA. -'X"'^i=> t^'^'.t :'■>=* ^'.J' y-* -• ■ ; " . - ■ [■ '- - - 



'V(j^> "^ "^v" 'V' '^y' 









^ O;^ 



^ ^J I L LS BO ROU GH _ COU NTY£^ 

'^'•^^ WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS, ^i^fe"^-^ 




PUBLISHED BY THE 



HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY REAL ESTATE AGENCY, 



I^AIVLHA, KLA. 



-^.Jx^Jx^J^^k^^h^^^_J^_^JL-^^A,A-.A^^^^^ 



THE SOUTH PUBLISHING COMPANY, PRINTERS, 85 WARREN ST., NEW YORK. 



^^SCl^lP-nVE PAMPHLET op 

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, 



FLORIDA, 



WITH NUMEROUS MAPS, ENGRAVINGS, ETC. 



1885. ■■•"'•""'' ^'"-' 



v. 



■n 1/ 



^.? 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY REAL ESTATE AGENCY, 
II 

TAVIPA, FLORIDA. 



\- 




fLLUSTRATED AND PRINTED FOR THE 



-Jl^HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY-^)^- 
BY 

THE ^^ SOUTH ^^ PUBLISHING * COMPANY. 

NO. 85 WARREN STREET, NEW YORK. 




CoPYKiGHT, 1885, By The hillsborocgh County Real Estate agexcy. 



HUUU 



f 



ORGANIZATION. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: 
HON. JOHN T. LESLEY, WM. B. HENDERSON, S. A. JONES. 

OFFICERS: 

JOHN T. LESLEY, Piesideiit. LAWSON CHASE, Secretary. 

S. A. JONES, General Miina-er. G. T. CHAMBERLAIN. Treasurer. 

MEMBERS: 

Stephen AI. Sparkiuau, Esii., Phil. H. Collins, Wm. B. Henderson, T. C. Taliaferro, Bank o£ 
Tampa; Geo. B. Sparkman, Esq., John T. Lesley, S. A. Jones, A. J. Knight, Ci. T. Cham- 
berlain, Lawsou Chase, W. A. Givens and T. K. Spencer, of Tampa, Fla. : P. E. 
Warburton, of Aclon, Fla. ; C. L. Mitchell, Commissioner of Lauds, 
Tallahassoe, Fla. : Samuel N. Honaker, of Abingdon, Va. 

REFERENCES : 

Joseph F. Norris, Charleston, S. C: Hon. S. F. Fleharty, Antelopeville, Neb.: Hon. S. J. A. 
Frazier, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Hon. Francte Colton, Galesburg, 111.; Rev. Chaa. Foster Garralt, 
Little Few Grange, Extono, O.von., England: O. H. Piatt, Esq., Hyde Park, Chicago, 111.: E.\-Gov- 
ernor Albinus Nance, Osceola, Neb. ; Hon. E. H. MarvUl, Stromburg, Neb. : Dr. Sol. Smith, Den- 
ver City, Col. ; Jas. L. Gilbert, Sulphur Springs, Texas: John A. Middleton, President Trader's 
Bank, Shelbyville, Ky. : John C. Williams, Detroit. Mich. : Hon. Jerome P. Chase, Florence, S. C. : 
S. Johnson, Newton, 111. 

ADDRESS ALL COMMINICATIONS TO THE 



-K HILLSBOROUGH <> COUNTY 9 REAL » ESTATE o AGENCY,! 



Bo.x 104, 

TAMRA. FLORIDA. 



A. S. LENFESTEY, 




FURNITURE DEALER 






^ : : : ■ ,^^ . ;;^:::::::r7^ 



AND 



UNDBRTAKBR. 



I cau guarantee prices on all grades of furniture as low (if not lower) freiglits 
considered, as in any market in the United States. Stock comprises eveiy thing that 
can be called for in the furniture line. Parties intending to settle will save money by 
selling their old furniture, thereby saving expense of packing, freights, and risk of 
breakage while in transit. 



We are prepared to attend to the last honors that friends can wish for departed 
ones ; but as no one comes to Florida to die, we wish to mei'ely announce the fact 
that this is part of our business. 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



INDEX OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Iiitrodiictioii, 7 

General Description of County, 11 

Genercal Description of Tampa, 23 

General Description of Plant Cit}% 33 

General Description of otlier Places and Post OIHces in County, ... 33 

Soil, 3.5 

Fruit Growing, 37 

Eailroads, 41 

Fisli, 43 

Timber, 4r> 

Cattle Raising, . 49 

Tampa Bay, 53 

Early Vegetables, 57 

Bcliool Sy.stem, 5!t 

Sponge Trade, . . <>1 

Climate and Health, 63 

Conclusion, . 0.~» 

Appendix, 07 



JOHN JACKSON, 



DEALER IN 



^GENERAL MERCHANDISE.t>^ 

;»:;.ijSSjpS^.;-::SV 

One of the oldest and most reliable houses in Tampa. Carries a heavy line of 

^GROCERIKS,^ 

Dry Goods & General Fnrmsliing Goods. 

AGENT FOR HOME MEAL FERTILIZER. 



lEONARDI'S OINTMENT. 

The curative properties of this Ointment are truly wonderful, astounding not only the 
patient and friends, but also the intelligent physician, by its almost miraculous cures of some 
of the most obstinate cases of Tetter, Ringworm and Itching Piles, on record. Below we give 
some extracts from testimonials : 

I Vas cured of Tetter of nineteen years' standing, by three applications of Leonardi's Oint- 
ment—Thomas P. Kennedy, Tampa, Fla. Less than one box of Leonardi's Ointment cured me 
of Tetter, of seventeen years' standing— Jno. L. Taylor, .Jr., Member of Florida Legi.slature from 
Hillsborough county. One box of Leonardi's Ointment cured me of an aggravated case of 
Tetter of twenty-seven years— Lew E. Sparkman, Sparkman, Fla. I had Tetter for three years 
and was cured with Leonardi's Ointment— G. B. Sparkman, Ex-Mayor, Tampa, Fla. 

We are now putting up two sizes — 50 cents and 75 cents. 

Agencies: S. R. Van Duzer, 35 Barclay St., New York; G. R. Finlay & Co., and 
J. L. Lyons & Co., New Orleans. 

PREPARED ONLY BY 

S. B. LEONARDI & CO., 

DRUGGISTS, 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



INTRODUCTION. 




The changes which Time, with his majestic and 
enchanting wand, has wrought, can be no more fully 
realized and understood than when we contemplate 
i vifH, that section of country whose venlure and beauty in 
landscape jind water scenery called forth the admira- 
tion and rejoicings of Hernando DeSoto, as he, with 
his followers, sailed up the waters of Tampa Bay in 
the budding spring time of 15(19. "With good reason 
did he gaze in Vjewildered astonishment and wonder 
at the fi-eshness and vigor of its vegetation and the bloom and blossom of its flowers. 
It was with a just and not a mistaken pride that he meditated upon the glory and 
renown which would flow to his beloved King and Queen, as the possessors of such a 
land, when he stopped upon the siuuly shores and planted, for the first time, deep in 
the fertile soil, the staff which spread to the genial breezes of the sunny clime the 
silken folds of the flag of Spain. 

Who can even faintly imagine the sensations and sentiments which would swell 
the l)reast anii fill the soul of that ancient explorer if, through Divine power, the 
breath of life should be once more breathed into the mouldering renuiins, and in life 
and flesli he should visit again this same beautiful section in its present state of devel- 
opment, and view from the highest attainable piimacle the wonderful impressions 
and changes which Time, aided by the progressive spirit of the Americans of 
to-day, has stamped upon its eveiy feature ! Great indeed have been the changes ! 
He would find that the Ked man, with his wigwams, his bows and arrows, his 
war-whoops and paints, has betaken himself to other paits and other climes. He 
would see that instead of the rude huts of these aborigines, scatteretl here and there, 
comfortabl<» houses and elegant mansions, embellished with all the architectural skill, 
and fitted with all the comfoits and conveniences of the modern day, have been erected 
in the shady groves, the thriving villages and the flourishing towns of this prosperous 
country. He would note that where once, only the light, shadowy canoe could be 
seen skimming along the surface of the blue watei-s, now, hundreds of sail-boats and 
many larg<» and elegant steamers, laden with the rich products of the soil, and freighted 
with hunuin lives, plow these waters daily and hourly. He would see, instejid of the 
indistinct trail over which the stealthy hunter lightly threaded his way through the 
great forest, whose silence was broken only by an occasional war-whcwp or the hoot of 



MORRISON & PACKWOOD 

JOBBERS AND RETAILERS OF 



STOVES ;„D 




Olliver Chilled Plow. Kalamazoo Cultivator. 




S. L. ALLEN PLANET, JR., TOOLS. 



CROCKERY AND LAMPS, 



WOOD, WILLOW AND BLASS WARE. 

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 






,i^ig TAMPA »^4\ 






^M,^^.^ FLA, %^^?'^a' 

Co^ -^ OPERA HOUSE 



If you want a home in Florida apply to this Agencj'. Facilities unsurpassed by 

any in the State. 



Money Loaners or Borrowers. 
-<LANDI> 






Sellers or Buyers Avill find it to their interest to read what is said on 

page 70 by the 



HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY REAL ESTATE AGENCY. 



D. S. Macfarlane. H. E. CleaveijAND. 

<1MACFARLANE S CLEAVELAND,I> 

Wholesale & Retail dealers in 

BOOTS, SHOBS AND SLIPPKRS, » 

Franklin Street, opposite Court House. Tampa, Fla. 



10 

the owl, the iron track, over which the daily train, bearing the commerce of the worlil 
and the tourist of the colder climes, comes bounding, waking the echoes of the most 
distant regions, as it safely speeds on to their destination the hundreds who have 
availed themselves of its accommodation. In all around he would see and acknowledge 
that an enlightened civilization, with all of its natural outgrowths and a Divine 
Christianity, with all its benign influences, had played well their parts. And as he 
contemplated all these changes, instinctively and irresistibly would he contrast the 
present condition and occupation of the white man with that of the first one who 
visited these shores, and whom he fomid a prisoner of the Indians upon his arrival 
here. Though somewhat shrouded in mysteiy, yet it is a fact that Hernando DeSoto 
was not the first white man to land in Florida. "A youth to fortune and to fame 
unknown," filled with the spirit of adventure and discovery which characterized that 
era of the world's history, sailed up the beautiful waters of Tampa Bay, and, like many 
others since then, even down to the present day, was so enraptured with the salubrity 
of the climate, the fertility of the soil and the prospect of an orange grove that he 
declined to Journey further with his companions and allowed them to set sail without 
him. His life was one grand holiday, and all with him and the Indians was as 
"salubrious" as the climate, until it was discovered that he was wooing the daughter 
of the chief of the tribe. He was then made prisoner, and after trial condemned to 
guard and keep watch in the future over the graves of those who had gone on to enjoy 
the chase on the happy hunting grounds in the Beyond, and so DeSoto found him. 
Here we must drop our Spanish discoverer, for 'twould tire the X'eader for us to follow 
him through all his amazements and peculiar experiences, his final settlement and 
abode in this prosperous country, his second death and burial, for the country is our 
subject and he is only an incident. 




- -"^ — ^ ^^ ^^fmi^ ^i^. '-v ' - — £^~ xj i^""iZjiy^Tr*F^- 



IffiS^iiSi^jg^^j 



^:^i 




GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COUNTY. 



The section of which wc speak you have no doubt already recognized ; at anj- rate, 
it is now known as Hillsborougli county, and we invite and oarnestlj- soUcit your 
attention while we set forth its claims to the world, in frankness and in truth. 

Having its boundaries defined on the west by the briny watei-s of the Gulf of 
Mexico, it extends from 27 deg. 20 min. to 28 deg. 50 min. north latitude, and from 
H2 deg. to 82 deg. 50 min. west longitude from Greenwich. Its sister counties ai'e 
Hernando, Polk and Manatee; Ht^mando bounding it on the north, Polk on the east 
and Manatee on the south. Its boundary lines meet each other at right angles, and 
its shape woidd lie that of a rectangle wore it not for the coast line, which is very 
im^gular and whi(;h is indented from north to south with many small estuaries and 
liayous. It is situated on the western coast of the Florida peninsula, as you know, 
and contains within its limits 852,480 acres, taking into count both its land and water 
surface. It is divided into forty-eight townships, each presumed to be six miles scpiare, 
at which calculation the county would be thirty-six miles in length and forty-eight 
miles in width. Nature, in her freaks of generosity and numificence. could certainly 
have bestowed but little more upon this section for the happiness and enjoyment of 
its inhabitants. Slie has given it a Bay which extends inland to such a distance that 
it becomes almost land-locked, thus furnishing one of the most inviting harbors, 
accessible to the thousand vessels engaged in the Gulf trade, and which come laden 
with the rich merchandise of the world. And it takes no wizard or prophet to clearly 
perceive that Tampa Bay, by virtue of its geographical position and natural advan- 
tages, is soon to become the connecting link between the freighted cars of the rail- 
roads of the North and the palatial vessels of the outer deep, which will carry on the 
fast growing commerce with the nationalities of Central and South America and the 
islanils of the sea. But for the presi^nt we have premised sufliciently concerning this 
nuignilicent Bay, which adds so materially to Florida's facilities for comnnmicating 
with the remainder of the world, and which, with a reasonable appropriation by Con- 
gress, can and will be made the best and most desirable haven for the many ships 
which now [iroudly plow the waters of the Gulf. Then, too, she hjis given us a climate 
of which we could not complain if we would. Far enough South to be free from tho 
snow and ice and chilling blast of the North, and fanned by the gentle zephyrs and 
Australian breezes which come wafted from the cooling waters of the Bay and Gulf, 
we are in the continual enjoyment of the most salubrious and equable climate. And 
in this connection we may, with propriety and fitness, quote from the " Statistical 



12 

Keport on the mortality in tlie armj-, compiled from tlie records of the Surgeon 
General's Office : 

CLIMATE. 

"The climate of Florida is remarkably equable and proverbially agreeable, being 
subject to fewer atmospheric variations, and in its thermometric ranges much less 
than anj- other part of the United States, except a portion of the coast of California." 
And again, in a few passages further down, we find : " The mean annual temperature 
of Augusta, Ga., is nearly eight degrees, and of Fort Gibson, Ark., upwards of ten 
degrees lower than at Tampa, yet in both these places the mean summer temperature 
is higher than at Fort Brooke " (Tampa) ; and it further states that such facts are 
positively shown by meteorological statistics on file in that bureau. We can state, 
unqualifiedly and with truthfulness, that in the summer months we suffer much less 
from the heat than those who dwell in the more northerly climes, which fact can be 
readily seen and appreciated by a comparison of the number of sunstrokes which 
dailj' occur in the Northern cities and the rare, rare ones in our section. In fact, so 
delightful and fascinating is our climate to our Northern friends that some of them 
have, notwithstanding the real fertility of our soil and the black rankness of our 
vegetation, remarked that we sell the climate and throw in the land. Such remarks 
are intended as no depreciation of our soil, but only as a very emphatic manner of 
expressing their honest appreciation of our balmy air and sunny clime. They spring 
from the same source as did the opening sentence of Florida's favorite Governor, 
when, on " Florida Day," at the Louisville Exposition, several years ago, as he stood 
up before the eager, anxious thousands who had gathered round him, even amid the 
fog, clouds, damp and cold of that dreary November day, to hear something of the 
" Land of Flowers," he wished " for forty acres of Florida climate to spread over the 
Exposition grounds. 

PKODUCTS. 

As to our soil, we would have no other if we could ; for its many productions, in 
fruits and vegetables, conclusively prove that our temperatures and upper stratum of 
earth are in harmonj' and accord with each other. 

Frequently, parties from further North, when down here, enjoying our genial 
climate, are struck with what they term "our poor sand," and frequently remark, 
" Oh, if you just could have our soil down here in this climate, what a country you 
would have." They lose sight of the fact that the arrangement was made by a Divine 
hand, and with the same propriety could change the sentence a little, and say, " Oh, 
if we just had your climate up there, what a country we would have." And so man 
proposes, but God has disposed of this subject long ago, and we are satisfied. For 
there is something peculiar in the composition of even " our poor sand." From 
observation and experience we know that vegetables, of almost any and every variety, 
can be cultivated and grown to perfection ; while oranges, lemons, limes, shaddock, 
grape fruit and other species of the citrus family, together with guavas, mangoes, 
pomegranates, bananas, pineapples, alligator pears, sugar apples and many other 
tropical fruits are in their native element and clime, and produce prolifically. The 
arrowroot, too, grows in abundance, and if the inhabitants would only turn their 
attention to its culture, soon its convei'sion into flour and starch would, beyond all 
doubt, yield the operators an annual income of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
And then, again, we should desei-ve reproach were we to omit to say that hemp grows 
well with us, and its cultivation could be made profitable. Now these statements, the 
truth of which can be easily ascertained by a visit to these parts, are introduced 
somewhat in the nature of proof as to the fertility of Hillsborough county sand. 



13 



^^N. DIXON,-?^ 



>^-- 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



MANUFACTURER OF 



vow ^ 

r^^^^ AND ^f^z> 

cWressTumber 






FLOORING, 

DROP SIDING AND CEILING, 

Turned and Scroll Work ; Pine and Cypress Mouldings ; Latli and 

Shingles. 

ORANGE AND VEGETABLE CRATES. 

Fancy Pickets a Specialty. 




AN AVENIE IN AN 01lAN(iE GKOVE. 



ffi 3]an4:n\i o:^/} nifi^ 



15 

WATEES. 

The principal bodies of water may be suiniiied up in Tampa Bay, Old Tampa 
Bay, Hillsborough Baj' and Hillsboi'ough river. 

The industries are as diversified as the character of its iiduibitants is varied. 

FISH AND OYSTERS. 

The waters which we mentioned above and the many Ijeautiful lakes which are 
dotted all over its surface afford admiralde fishing grounds, where the amateur can 
find sport with his rod, and the regular flsiierman tish for the market, and wages for 
his labor, while in the bays oj'sters and clams are found in plentj' and abundance. 

FRUIT. 

The fruit grower has no occasion to lament over the profits which he reaps from 
his groves of oranges and other fruitage, even under the present greedy grab system 
of the niiddle-men. 

CROPS. 

The farmer finds a remunerative emploj-ment in tilling a soil which readily l)rings 
good crops of sea island cotton, tol)acco, sugar cane, rice, potatoes and all truck stuff 
and which alwaj'S finds a ready market. 

PASTURAGE FOR CATTLE. 

Il is hardly necessary to say that some portions of our land furnish e.Kcellenl 
natural pasturage for cattle, and that so profitable has it proved that there ai-e many 
in this county who.se wealth, ac([uired solely by raising and shipping cattle, is 
astonishing. 

TURPENTINE. 

The "Queen of the Forest," as some one has called our large, tall pine tree, 
invites the attention of the turpentine farmer, and opens to the saw-mill men emploj-- 
ment in which there has already been found, by some in our nudst, independence and 
wealth. 

TRUCK GARDENING. 

Truck gardening is also extensively engaged in, and during the entire year 
vegetables of various descriptions and variety constitute in part wholesome food for 
the tables ; and in the early spring time fine large strawberries, whose luscious appear- 
ance would bring water to the mouth of the most fastidious epicure, are served at 
home as ambrosial delicacies, while in large (luantities the juicy berries are shipped to 
the frozen homes of our Northern friends. 

PURSUITS. 

Of course, as a matter of natural and necessary ("onsequence, we have among us 
those wiio follow the ordinary pursuits of life, and do mercantile and other business; 
some being engaged in the retail, others in the wholesale trade, while frequently the 
two are combined. But the further consideration of the many and various ways (for 
only a few have been mentioned, and those in only a cursory manner) in which a 
livelihood and, quite often, independence can be attained, we must defer for the 
present, trusting that the patient reader will follow us on to that part of this pamphlet 
which will treat more in detail the different pui-suits and avocations of the inhabitants. 



1(3 

POPULATION. 

The population of the county has increased within tlie last few years in an enor- 
mous ratio, the census of 1880 giving us only 5,814 inhabitants, while present calcula- 
tions give us upwards of 8,721. And as long as the present tide of immigration contin- 
ues to inundate our every section with respectable and desirable citizens we need have 
no fears that our fertile and productive soil will remain untilled ; that our fish will by 
their continued reproduction block our streams in their course ; that our oyster-bars 
and clam-beds will remain unnoticed and untouched ; that our swamp and overflowed 
lands will not be drained and converted into rice and sugar plantations ; tiiat our pine 
forests will continue in their primeval wealth and grandeur ; that our natural pastures 
will not be utilized, or that any of the other many natural endowments and facilities 
will not meet with the high development of which they are susceptible and for which 
an all-wise Creator designed them. Already many sail and steam vessels, burdened 
with rich and valuable merchandise, many times more valuable than the fabled 
"golden fleece,' continually glide into our harbors and proudly ride the rolling waves 
of our lovely waters. Even now, the iron steed, manacled by man to the narrow 
track leading from the North, comes whistling through our choicest sections, bringing 
in his train of cars the rich products of the North and West, and many settlers from 
every portion of the globe, making us cosmopolitan in our citizenship. Owing to a 
shortness of time, as well as some unfavorable circumstances, we have been imable to 
ascertain with correctness and exactness the value of the vessels and cargoes which 
yearly deposit their freights at Tampa and other points along our coast. Yet this 
much we have observed, that notwithstanding the completion of a railroad to this 
point, the freights arriving by water have not diminished one iota, but on the contrary 
have materially increased, as is evidenced by the fact that only a few weeks since the 
Tampa Steamship Company were necessitated to make additions to their already 
spacious warehouses. We have also further observed that it was necessax-y several 
months ago for the South Florida Railroad Company to increase their freight depot to 
just double its original capacity. 

Such facts as these, the reader will confess, evince pi'ogress, enterprise and a 
glorious future. We must confess that the old fogyism, which has to a great extent 
existed to the detriment of progress and push in other sections of our State, did for a 
long time retard the growth of Hillsborough county ; bvit, owing to the overrulings of 
a Divine Providence, or to the skill of our efficient and far-seeing physicians who prac- 
tice the ..Esculapian art among us, those who were imbued with no ideas of advance- 
ment or progress ai-e now enjoying, we hope, sweet rest upon the plains of Elysium, 
and if not, then Pluto is the one whom we are to commiserate in his continual conten- 
tions with their stand-still spirits and Micawber-like enthusiasm. In closing these 
weneral remarks, we do not hesitate to say that the mortality of this county will bear 
us out in stating that almost total freedom from sickness and diseases can and may 
be enjoyed among us ; however, we anticipate, as we design devoting an article to the 
healthfulness and immunity from diseases in this county. 

POST OFFICES IN THE COUNTY. 

Alafia. Diston. M.4^ngo. 

Anona. Dunedin. Peru. 

Bay View. John's Pass. Pinellas. 

Bloomingdale. Key Stone Pakk. Plant City. 

Clear Water Harbor. Keysville. Tampa. 

(j^jjK. LiMONA. Tarpon Springs. 

Yellow Blitff. 



17 



a 




H. B. PLflNT." 



THE LEADING HOTEL 



OK TAMPA 



Near (U»i>ot and steamboat wharves and overlookiiiK the lilver au'l Bay. Fii>it-class in every 
respect, anil ample aecomniDdatloa for 150 puosts. 8i>ecial atteiilloii slveii to <-ulinary dei>art- 
meiit. After a flcnirisUuiK .season of only four nu^ntlis last winter, 2,067 were entertained, and the 
house is now closed tor extensive repairs. Opens 1st of Ociotjer: terms $:i a day and upwards, 
according; to location of room. The following notice of the house is from the Tiihann. 

The H. B. Pl.\xt.— The above-named hotel was openeil to the public December 12th, and has 
instantly established itself as a tlrst-class hostelry in all respects. It is located on the river front. 
100 feet tro/n the main depot of the South Florida Hailroad. fifty yards from the steamboat land- 
ing and one square from the office of the Southern Esiiress Comjiany. The buililing is a hand- 
some two-story tranie, containing forty rooms and covering an area of 8,100 squjirc feet. A 
striking feature of this hotel Is its sujierior arrangements. The halls and stairw;iys are broad, 
and so constructed as to give the most e.xcellent ventilation. The rooms are all " front " or 
"outside" ai)artmeuts. each with two i)late-glass windows, large, fitted with marble-toi) furniture 
and the best beds that can lie procured. The rotims on the ground floor are all furnished with 
black walnut. The parlor, office and reading rooms are all specially flue and conveniently 
arranged. The dining room seats 100 people. The kitchen is a model of perfection, while the 
ice-house and store-room Is all that could be desired. Surrounding the house Is 6.o0(i square feet 
of piazza. Mr. Anderson will shortly have an artesian well on the grounds, and will spare 
neither pains nor money to make the H. B. Plant above <-ompari3on In Southern Florida. He has 
been in the hotel business for many years, and Is thoroughly versed In efficiently managing a 
house of this superior character. 



18 




SPENCER HENDERSON X CO., 



WHOLESALE DEALEKS IN 



BUGGIES, s WAGONS, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



HORSES AND MULES 

Bought and sold, and for hire. 

< HAY AND GRAIN FOR SALE> 

^TEAIVIS AT ANY AND ALL HOURS. 



TERMS EASY. 



19 
S. P. Hinckley. H. W. Fuller. 

HINCKLEY & FULLER, 

ORANGE BUYERS AND PACKERS, 

AND V/HOLESALE DEALERS IN 

-^^aRAIN, HAY, KLOUR, ETC.^ 

TAMPA, FLOEIDA. 



FLORIDA ORANGES 




SS)^'* 



o Vy I v< o 



Oranges selected, packed and shipped to order in any amount. "We make a 
specialty of this business and pack nothing but clioiee fruit. Fruit guaranteed to bo 
perfectly sound and in good keeping condition WHEN SHIPPED. 

Terms Cash in advance. 
Bank of Tampa, or any of the Reliable Merchants or Citizens of Tampa. 

Prices qiioted and special reference given when 

reciuired. 

Orders respectfully solicited. 

Hinckley & Fuller, Tampa, Fla. 

N. B.— The Orange Season is from Nov. 1st to May 15th. 



21 



^_JI\^AES Ho 7>/ 



FRANKLIN ^ STREET,^ 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



H 




KJ 



— \ 
H 



FIRST CLASS IN ALL ITS APPOINTMENTS. 



Has Four Hniulred and Fifty Feet of Covered Veranda, with all the 
comforts of a family home. 



Captain Thomas White, late proprietor of the Magnolia 
Honse, Darien, Ga., will be pleased to entertain 
his friends and the traveling public 
when they visit Tampa. 



THOMAS WHITE, MANAGER. 



22 
TAKE 



THK^ KKY ^ LINK 




(Florida Railway and Navigation Co. 

to all Points North or West. 



LOW RATES. THROUGH CARS. QUICK TIME. 



THE 



* QUICK -=i^ THROUGH * ROUTE * 

FROM 

SOUTH FLORIDA POINTS, 

IS NOW VIA 

Orlando, the Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railway and the Key Line. 



THROUGH SLEEPING CARS ORLANDO TO MONTGOMERY, ALA. 



The finest and most economical Summer Resort, AMELIA BEACH, Fernandina, 
Fla., is reached only via this line. 



SEND TO ADDRESSES BELOW FOR FULL INFORMATION. 



D. E. MAXWELL, A. O. MacDONELL, 

General Superintendent. Gen. Pass, and Ticket Agt. 

FERNANDINA, KLORIDA. 



W. G-. COLEMAN, G-en. Trav. Agt., Jacksonville, Fla. 



TAMPA. 

situated upon the right hank of the Hillsborough river, from which the county 
takes its name, and at a distance of several hundred yards from its mouth, which 
opens into Hillsborough Bay, Tampa is, geographically, the most interesting and 
pleasing ftjature of the whole county, and, by virtue of its position, is destined within 
the near future to rival the present metropolis of the State in every respect and par- 
ticular. 

Up to within a very recent period, Tampa, as has been said with truth of all sec- 
tions of Middle and South Florida, was comparatively little known, on account of her 
very limited communication with the outside world, notwithstanding the fact that her 
history dates back to tlie year 1824:, at which time Captain Brooke established a military 
post for five miles on and around the row existing Federal reservation, known as Fort 
Brooke, and which, during the old Indian troubles in tliis State, constituted the prin- 
cipal general hospital for the army. But most of the buildings which then stood upon 
the reservation have been destroyed either by time or the hand of man, there remain- 
ing only two, which serve as monumental memorials to the by-gone days. And with 
your permission, kind reader, we will here digress somewhat from Tampa proper, and 
cursorily glanc«> at this lovely spot, which lies adjacent to, and of a right should, and 
in all prol)ability will be a part of Tampa, for no act of Congress would raise to a 
greater degree the high appreciation and hearty endorsement of any session tlian that 
one which would donate Fort Brooke to Tamjia, to be used for a park and other public 
purposes. We hesitate not to say that in pi)int of pictures" [ueness and beauty it has 
not a rival spot even in the poets' loved Italia. In the center, and in fact surrounding 
and all over this lovely creation of Nature's, there are clumps ami clusters of large, 
grand old live oaks, which are adorned and bedecked by Nature with the festoons of 
beautiful mosses which hang touching the grassy ground beneath the swinging l.toughs 
of the spreading trees. These gray-green living monuments of ages past sen-e not 
only as beautiful and natural ornaments to the place, but at the same time afiford a 
cool and refreshing shade to the invalid and tourist, whose ejaculations of surprise, 
admiration and pleasure evince his gratitude to that star which directed him to these 
parts and to such a spot. In the spring time ami summer months the festive picnicker 
may be found on almost .3verv' day under the shady branches of the beautiful grove, 




PALMETTO HOTEL, TAMPA. 



25 




Tampa, Florida. 



Just built and newly furnished, is one of the largest, handsomest and most com- 
modious Hotels in South Florida. Three stories high, with a five story observatory. 
Wide halls and spacious verandas — affording ample promenade space on two sides. 
One hundred rooms, large and airy, and finished in elegant papers. Furniture and fixt- 
ures complete. Bath-rooms and laundry-rooms, etc., attached. The South Florida 
Kailroad has a special platform in front of the Hotel for the accommodation of its 
guests. One acre in the hotel grounds. Observatory affords a splendid view of the 
Bay and surrounding country, and opportunity to drink in the sea breeze. 

This Hotel can be leased by application to the 



Hillsborough County Real Estate Agency, 



TAIMPA, KLA, 



2G 

drinking in aad enjoying to the full the soft Gulf breezes which come stealing to him 
through the mossy branches of many a tree. 

At present the normal beauty of the place is somewhat marred by the fences 
which have been erected around and through it by private citizens, one person having 
attempted to homestead it, and six others having pre-empted it. No satisfactory end 
can be seen to the contentions of these private parties, and it is the opinion of many 
of the people that no one individual will get possession of Tampa's natural park, their 
prayer being a petition to Congress to bestow it where it properlj- belongs — to the 
city, pro bono publico. 

But to return to Tampa, from which we did not intend to stray so long ; however. 
Fort Brooke is naturally a part of Tampa, and is so closely allied and so situated 
that we may as well consider it technically as a part of Tampa, and so dispose of it 
now. As we premised above, the military reservation extended in its original for five 
miles around ; but in 1847 Congress donated 160 acres of it to the county as a site for 
the town, the situation of which 160 acres we have given in our description of the 
location of Tampa, and from time to time the limits of the original reservation have 
been narrowed down by placing portions of it on the market until it has reached its 
present size of 148 acres and over which the fight between several parties is now going 
on. Without the least fear that the truthfulness of our statement will be called into 
question, we assert that there is no other citj- or town in South Florida, aj-e, or in all 
Florida, which offers to the tourist and invalid as many and as varied natural attrac- 
tions and advantages as Tampa, the Queen of the Bays. Here, those who come from 
the chilling blasts and freezing weather of their Northern homes to find in mid-winter 
a moderate and bracing atmosphere and a salubrious climate, have not only a charm- 
ing and desirable resort with the qualities they seek, but also free from fogs and 
rainy days. 

CYCLONES. 

Another striking and favorable peculiarity of our section is that it is situated in 
that belt which exempts it from the disastrous cyclones and tornadoes which so often 
visit other sections both north and south of us. It would be gross injustice to our 
section, and an unpardonable fault of ours, were we to omit to say that instead of 
fogs, and damp and chill and rain in winter, our skies are usually bright and clear 
and blue, and our atmosphere free from over-moisture, w^hile here, as in all South 
Florida proper, the " rainy season " genei'ally commences along towards the latter 
part of June or first July, and extends to the middle of August or first September. 
During this " rainy season," which is not a continual deluge of rain, but more like 
April weather, giving us an abundance of " sunshine and showers," most of the 
orange groves are planted, though some practical growers prefer to plant in mid- 
winter, while the sap is down. 

But while Tampa holds out such advantages and inducements to the tourist and 
invalid, it offers equally favorable oppoi'tunities to all practical business men and 
workers who desire a home in this favored spot of the American Italy ; for even now, 
Avith not a thickly populated tract of country extending all around it for miles, the 
fall of hammers, the humming of saws, the blasts of whistles, and the hurrj- and vim 
of its busy, active citizens, tell plainly of present progress and a fixed determination 
not to fall short of the greatness which is continually- predicted for the place by the 
thousands who now annually seek its balmy air and genial climate for health or 
pleasure. It is the county site of the county, and although its incorporation only 
includes the original grant of 160 acres with a population of from 1,200 to 1,500, yet, 
within a radius of a mile, the suburbs, all of which are laid off consistent with the 
streets of the city proper, are so well settled up as to swell the number of inhabitants 



27 

to 2,500 ; and at the next municipal election it is proposal to extend the limits of the 
incorporation so as to include all the subur)>an portions to which we referred just 
above. 

NATIONALITIES. 

It is true of Tampa, as of the count}-, that the society here is extremely cosmo- 
politan in its character, almost every State in the Union, and nearly every civilized 
nation of the world, being fairly represented among us ; which fact, we take it, offers 
special inducements to any who desire to become permanent settlers among us. Here 
the German can find Germans, the Frenchman French, the Swede those of his native 
tongue, while the English and Scotch are as numerous as our citizens from our own 
Northern States. 

RELIGIONS OR CHURCHES. 

The religious facilities, too, of the place iiave also peculiar attractions for the 
stranger, there being a pastor in charge of an organized church of nearly every 
denomination, and on the Sabbath morn the chimes of many church bells, riu'dn"' 
•out from all parts of the city, invite the devout to participate in the services of the 
day. 

SCHOOLS. 

In point of schools we have kept pace with the times, there being now one well 
•organized public school and several fine private ones, some of which prepare pupils 
for the freshman and sophomore classes in our colleges. 

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH. 

Within the past 5'ear the Bell Telephone Company has stretched its wires 
throughout our streets, and these, with the lines of two telegraph companies, act as 
obstacles to the flight of the average small boy's kite. 

HOTELS. 

As to accommodations in hotels and boar<ling houses, Tampa keeps pace witli 
communities of exceedinglj* greater and denser population. We must confess, how- 
ever, that up to within a few years back Tampa was behind in this respect ; but at the 
present writing the H. B. Plant, the St. James, the Palmetto, the Collins House, the 
Orange Grove and the Craft House offer to the public accommodations well worthy 
of a larger city. In fact, all of these hotels were so well patronized during the last 
season, and which is admitt^ed by all to have been one of Florida's poorest, that they 
found themsehes crowded for room, and the H. B. Plant, though a new house, built 
during the past year, is now closed for extensive additions. Besides these hotels, 
there are various Ixiarding liouses, some of whose appointments and conveniences 
admit of no superiority in the State. The price of board varies according to the 
amount of style, etc. ; good aeeommodations, however, can be had for from $1 to 
$3.50 per day. 

SPORTS. 

During the winter months Tampa is the headquarters of quite a number of 
sportsmen, who make either daily or weekly excursions for game or pleasure, down 
the Bay, up the river or into the interior, and they always report a most successful 
and enjoj-able time. Deer, bears, squirrels, ([uail, wild ducks and innumerable kinds 
of sea birds and every kind of fresh and salt water fish are found easily and in abun- 
dance. In the summer months, turtling and turtle-egg hunting, as well as graining 
•or gigging the tarpon, jew or other large species of fish, with frequent baths in the 




BRANCH'S OPEKA HOUSE, TAMPA. 



29 

briny waters, give amusement and healthful exercise to the tourist and sportsman. 

In mid-winter, the spacious piazzas of our hotels and boarding houses present a 
peculiar appearance to the Northern stranger, who, for the first time, strolls down 
our streets; for while he remembers, with a shiver, that the chilling breezes and 
bleali hills of the higher latitude, from wiiich he has come, prevent any outdoor 
exercise but that which is absolutely necessary, he sees crowds of comfortable, cosy- 
looking loungers, in large easy chairs or comfortable benches, drinking in the balmy 
<air and genial sunshine, while they discuss the. pleasures of a semi-tropical resort. 
And the natives who find time to lounge themselves, are gratified, interested and 
often amused in watcliing the movements and actions of the tourists as thej* saunter 
down our wide plank walks, stopping here to admire the beauty and elegance of the 
spreading oak or natural shade; there, to wonder at the freshness and fragrance of 
the beautiful flower yards ; yonder, to guess at the variety of some growing tropical 
fruit, or halting in astonishment before the show-windows of some taxidermist to 
gaze with enthusiastic pleasure at the plumage of our beautiful birds or the forms of 
our peculiar animals, oftentimes going into ecstacies when they have purchased a 
small " gator" or some other curio to send back to Northern friends. 

During "the season," the pleasure-lover and seeker can betake himself to the 
opera or theatre, where he will be entertained by first-class traveling troupes, or in a 
more quiet way enjoy himself in the brilliant parlors of the social-loving at a pleasant 
game of cards or a Jolly game of thumbs. 

Our spreading oaks with their bending branches, overhanging the steep banks of 
the picturesque Hillsborough, afford a magnificent shade to the amateur fisherman, 
as he throws his fishing line into its clear waters and brings into his boat, with 
pleasing rapidity, the ma:iy fine and different species of fish found in these waters. 
Safe and comfortable row-boats can be easilj- and readily hired for a small considera- 
tion, and nothing is more healthful or delightful than a row upon the river late in the 
afternoon, when the heat and toil of the daj' is done ; or, better still, in early evening, 
when *' the diadem which crowns the night of our cloudless skies " sheds her soft 
and delicate light over the silent earth and the rippling waters. 

On account of the increased demand for speedy transportation between Tami)a 
and points along the Manatee river, which the completion of the South Florida Rail- 
road has made, an elegant and commodious side-wheel steamer has been put on, and 
regularly makes the run Ijetween Tampa and all the points along the Manatee river. 
To make it all the more pleasant for any who may come to these hospitable siiores, 
tins magnificent floating palace, under the command of one of the most experienced 
and courteous officers of this coast, makes tri-weekly excursions down the Bay as far 
as Egmont Key, where it stops long enough to allow the gay passengers a stroll upon 
the sandy beach to gather the beautiful shells and crystals washed up by the ever- 
rolling surf, or a pleasant bath in the briny deep ; then pi'oceeding on its return, calls 
and.stops at every place of special interest or attraction along the Manatee. 

The other many ways of amusement and pleasant diversion, which lie within the 
easy reach of every visitor, we cannot stop to enumerate or notice, but sincerely hope 
that the reader will soon have the pleasure of experiencing them all in person, and 
of testing the truth of our every statement. 

"We have already spoken of the city's size and limits ; but in this connection we 
wish to say further that the streets are laid oft' at right angles running nearly north 
and south, east and west, and are eighty feet in width, thus giving ample room for 
shade trees along the sidewalks and in the center of the streets. The blocks are an 
acre square, and while in the business part of the city the buildings are closely and 
compactly built together, in those parts where the dwellings are found the blocks 
are usually divided into only four lots, so that around nearly every private residence 



30 




CLARKE & KNIGHT, 

Wholesale aud Retail Dealers iu 

HARDWARE, STOVES, 

TINWARE, Etc. 



Agents for the HAZARD POWDER CO. Also 
for the celebrated ACME HARROW, the best 
known Cultivator for orange trees. 



S. A. JONES & CO., 

THE - OLD ^ RELIABLE 

FOR 

SASH, DOORS, BLINDS, 

PAINTS, 

And all kinds of Builders' Supplies. 



Established 1879. 



The Hillsborough County Real Estate Agency, 

PUBLISHERS OK THIS BOOK. 



SEE SIGN OVER CUT. 



'W-A.siiinsrG-TOisr st., T^^nsdiiP^^, if-l^^. 



31 

is the largo old-fai-hionod Southern yard in which are planted orange trees or other 
ornamental evergreens, while a portion of it is devoted to fiowers of not only the 
common and hardier kind, but plants and exotics of the most tender and delicate 
nature, whose fragrance and perfume and freshness and bloom add so much to the 
Iteauty and attractiveness of the place during the whole year. 

Soiuo people in the past have been inconsiderate enough to complain of the heavy 
walking through the sand of our streets, and therefore, recently, the "city fathers" 
determined to have wide plank walks, made of the best and most durable timber, 
put (town along the line of all the principal streets, and ere this goes to press there 
will not be a lot in Tampa around which there will not be a new plank walk, so that 
ime can go all over the city and never step in the sand. 

The Court House, a large, well-built and well-proportioned two-story frame 
Iniilding, is a creditable " temple of justice," situated in the center of one of the cen- 
tral blocks, and besides containing the court rooms and necessary offices for the 
■ •ounty officials, has also a large hall which heretofore has been used as a town hall ; 
:.ut as the city is so rapidly developing, of course the day is not far distant when it 
will have its own elegant structure. The yard, which is well kept, is enclosed with a 
nice picket fence, while from its towering cupola may be seen and heard the town 
olock. 

Three weekly newspapers are published here, viz, tlni Tribune, the Guardian and 
the South Florida Messaiger; the two first are political organs, and the latter one 
only an instrument to advertise the real estate handled by one of our real <jstate 
agencies. 

Tampa is quite a business place, there being merchants engaged in all the various 
branches of merchandise, some doing a general business, while others confine them- 
selves to the wholesale or retail trade in some particular line, and they all seem to 
do well. This is tlie most convenient and accessilde market for a very large scope of 
•<)untry, so that really its business extends into nearly all of the neighboring 
'iiunties. 

The city proper is situated, as we have before said, on the east side of the river; 
liut within the last few years so rajjidly has the western side been settled up that it 
now goes l>y the name of West Tampa, and to establish convenient communication 
between this suburb and the city proper a ferryboat is run back and forth continually 
during the day ; l)ut we have good reasons for belie\ing that soon this will be done 
away with, and that in less than a year's time a bi'idge will span the river, connecting 
more closely the two places. Leading out from the northern part of the city are 
three avenues about a quarter of a mile apart and running parallel with each other 
for more than five miles, and from the limits of the city to their ends are scattered 
all along these avenues flourishing orange groves, generally of live or ten acres in 
size, and upon which nice cosy-looking cottages have l)een erected by their respective 
owners. There are also several smaller and less imi)ortant avenues leading out from 
the eastern side, and all of these, both great and siuall, have been called after some 
Northern or Western State. Tampa's prospective railroad connections are more than 
ordinarily good, there being a number of railroads now building which by their char- 
ters are compelled to come to Tampa, and if only one-half of the prospective roads 
ever reach us th(>re will lie no place in all Florida, or perhaps in the South, which 
will be so favored with railroad facilities. From its geographical position and water 
communication, Tampa must and will be the distributing point for the traile from 
the North and Northwest for South Florida, and the key to the commerce of the 
West Indies and Central and South America, Already we have one railroad — the 
South Florida — completed and nicely equipped, and which runs daily trains from this 
point to Sanford on the St. Johns river, giving a pleasant ride of five hours and a half 



32 

from the grand old river to the glorious old Bay, so that passengers leaving Jackson- 
ville on the mail boat at 2 :30 P. M. one day arrive in Tampa at 2 :30 the next day ; 
fare, $11.75. 

As yet her population has not warranted gas works, but the town is well lighted 
with street lamps, which give the place quite a citified air at night. 

The Masons have a lodge building, in the hall of which they and the Odd Fellows 
hold regular meetings, while other societies formed for culture and sociability hold 
forth in other quarters of the city. Her Base Ball Club continues to retain the belt 
over all other clubs of South Florida, while the Tampa Guards enable her to boast 
of the average militia organization. And now, in concluding this imperfect sketch of 
the county site and its attractions, we can conceive of nothing more appropriate than 
to say " the half has never been told." After all we have said as to her many attrac- 
tions and her desirableness as a place of resort or permanent settlement, we promise, 
in all the sinceritj" of our hearts, that you will never regret it if you come among us, 
either as a visitor or a settler. Some one said of Italy's famous city, " See Venice 
and die." We say, " See Tampa and live." 




KESIDKNCE AND ORANGE GROVE. 



OTHER PLACES. 



While the many other attractive and desirable towns which adorn this county 
with their enterprise and facilities, and beautify it with their architectural edifices 
and buildings, are by far inferior to Tampa in point of size and population, yet none 
will admit of any superiority in prosperity and glorious prospects for the future; for 
tins whole county is enjoying a "boom," which will not suffer one section to remain 
far in the rear of the others, and it is a boom, too, wliich will continue as long as the 
sweet winding waters of the Hillsborough wend their way to the ocean stream, sing- 
ing merrily of the balmy air and the sunny skies which reflect the brilliant rays of a 
semi-tropical sun upon their dancing waves. Among the most important of these is 

PLANT CITY, 

named in honor of H. B. Plant, the principal factor in the Plant Investment Com- 
pany, which controls such an ovenvhelming interest in the railroads of Florida. It 
is situated twenty-three miles east of Tampa on the South Florida Railroad, and 
within a little over a year's time has increased in population from several scattered 
families to fifteen hundred bona fide inhabitants. Such an enormous and nuraculous 
increase is due to the scope of country surrounding it, and also to the push and energy 
of those who had invested in lands at and around that point previous to the completion 
of the road. For its age, we cavil not to say that it is the largest and most thriving 
little city in the South. It has recently been incorporated, and its orderly yet busy 
and active citizens declai'e that its present prosperity shall ever continue, and that 
its rapid growth is not of the mushroom character. Its accommodations in hotels 
and boarding houses are pronounced good by all those who have visited it, either in 
search of a home or in the pursuit of health or pleasure. There are, as any one 
would naturally suppose, a number of stores, doing all the different branches and 
twigs of merchandise, and all the other many avocations of life have their quota of 
representatives. 

PINELLAS 

we will next consider, which, on account of its other many natural facilities besides 
its accessibility to the health-restoring breezes of the Bay and Gulf, is the proposed 
site of a sanitary city to be constructed after the suggestion of Dr. Richardson, of 
London, a movement which is attracting the attention of the whole world, and one 
in which all the civilized nations of the world are expected to enter. The fact that 



34 

Drs. Toner, of Washington, Chadwick, of Boston, Wilson, of Pliiladelpliia, lieaded 
by Van Bibber, of Baltimore, all eminent physicians, visited this section for purposes 
of investigation, and the still further fact that their reports were most complimentary 
and flattering, is sufficient evidence that this design, which has already enlisted the 
sympathies and well wishes of every thinking man, will be crowned with success. 
Aught else that we could say of Pinellas would sound of mockery, so we will now 
view 

DUNEDIN, 

as she is situated upon the coast of the Gulf. The settlements in and around this 
place are quite numerous, there being, too, some of the finest orange groves in the 
State all through that region. The character of the land is tlie first-rate pine which 
we describe in our article on the soil, and several saw-mills have been erected to 
utilize the magnificent timber to be found on all such. 

ALAFIA 

is situated on the river which bears the same name, and that section of country em- 
braces Peru and many other small towns. The indispensable pursuits of life are of 
course prosecuted there ; but that feature which attracts more attention than all 
others is its abundance of hammock and swamp lands, upon which are cultivated 
the vegetables of every variety. Though at the present time it is lacking in railroad 
facilities, the river affords a fair transportation, which has for many years been taken 
advantage of. We might, were we not tenacious of time, go on to enumerate and 
partly describe the many advantages and oppoilunities of Anona, Bay View, 
BiiOOMiNUDALE, Mango, Keysville, and so on ; but we will draw these sectional 
remarks to a close by noticing in an extremely cursory manner, 

THOKOTOSASSA LAKE, 

which for beauty and grandeur has not a rival sheet of water this side of Niagara 
Falls. At the time of writing it is at its lowest, but now measures two miles in 
length and one in width. Upon the beach of this small inland sea are situated beautiful 
cottages, encircled with the native oak and the evergreen orange. It teems with the 
most delicious quality of trout and other fish, and it is quite notorious that this lake 
affords one of the best fresh-water fisheries in South Florida. " It is the pride of the 
citizens of the community, .... who feast upon the beauty of its waves and 
breathe the puiity and vigor of its breezes." 




THE SOIL. 



If one should travel through this county at a reasonable rate, notioinj; oabiially 
its white- sandy appearance, and having his eyes blind to its varied vegetation, no 
conclusion would be more plausible and probable to him than that one which would 
declare the productive lands to be of a very small per cent. Its exceeding diversity 
and varied character might in all probability escape his observation, and con- 
sequently the fact that it is susceptible of the cultivation of crops not only not 
grown in the states generally, but also of those things which characterize tlie tropical 
climes. If one would avoid a mistake as to the character of the soil, its white-sandy 
appearance must not in any instance be taken as evidence against it, for there is 
certainly, as we have said before, something peculiar in the composition of this sand 
which peculiarly adapts it to the growth of the fruits and plants of this climate, and 
frequently a more close and thorough examination will bring to light the fact that a 
goodly per cent, of it is compose<l of the debris of shells and carbonate of lime. 
And potash, which is found in the palmetto flats, and which is generally pronounced 
the poorest land, is a constituent element of plant food, and evinces th«^ fact that in 
the presence of alkaline salt nature provides what is lacking in the soil. On account 
of its diversity and vai'ied character the soil is commonly classe<l as first, second and 
third-rate pine lands, and as high and low hammock, and swamp lands. The pine 
hinds, as is observed by all, constitute much the larger portion of the countrj-, and 
all the classes can be utilized in one way or another. The poorest soil, even, in the 
thiril-class pine lands is not woi-thless, for upon it can be found the most desirable 
pasturage for cattle ; and the palmetto, which generally grows in such an abundance 
upon it, is now being converted into the best and finest wrapping paper, while its 
ciioicest leaves are made into fans. 

In regard to the first-class pine land, we quote from J. S. Adams, ex-Commis- 
sioner of Immigration, who published a pamphlet in ISfiO : " It has nothing analogous 
to it in any of the other states. Its surface is covered for several inches with a dark 
vegetable mould, beneath which, to the depth of several feet, is a cliocolate sand 
loam, mixed, for the most part, with limestone pebbles, resting on a sub-stratum of 
marl, clay or limestone rock. The fertility and durability of this description of land 
may be estinuited from the well-known fact that it has, on the upper Suwannee an<l 
several other districts, yielded during fourteen years of successive cidtivation, with- 



3G 

out the aid of manure, four hundred pounds of sea island cotton to the acre, and the 
lands are as productive as ever, so that the limit of their durability is still unknown." 
The second-class pine lands are the most numerous, and are found from exper- 
ience to be quite productive, and from their fertility and healthfulness they are pre- 
ferred to the richer hammock lands, which are more or less sickly. This class is 
the kind of land upon which are found most of our beautiful bearing groves. The 
high hammock lands are not, as is often erroneously supposed, either very damp or 
subject to overflow during the greater part of the year ; but, on the contrary, do not 
require either any drainage or ditching or levees. They are spots interspersed here 
and there throughout our pine lands, and as the same Mr. Adams suggests, can be 
easily cultivated, while the cultivator can reside upon the healthy pine lands, pro- 
vided his residence upon the hammock land should be found to produce sickness. 
The low hammock lands are generally wet, and as a consequence have to be drained 
before they are fit for cultivation, and from experience it has been proved that this 
class affords the best soil for the cultivation of rice and sugar cane, neither of these 
crops being injured by great moisture. The swamp lands are considered the richest 
and most desirable, and it is mainly upon these lands that our early vegetables, which 
are shipped to the North, are grown. Sugar cane also does exceedingly well upon 
it, and in some instances as much as four hogsheads of sugar have been made 
from the cane produced upon an acre, and fair and reasonable estimates show that 
these lands of Florida Avili produce sufficient sugar to supply the present demand of 
the whole United States. But we must return for a few moments to the pine lands, 
of the abundance and quality of which we have already spoken, as we failed to notice 
the timber interest. The pines, which grow upon the first and second-class lands to 
be very large and tall, supply the many saw-mills with most admii'able timber, from 
which is sawed the most durable lumber. And, by way of digression, we may here 
remark that the lumber business is carried on very extensively in this county, many 
of the mills taking advantage of the convenient location of the Hillsborough river 
and other streams to raft their saw logs to the mill and their lumber to market. In 
the third-class lands, while the trees do not by any means grow to any great height, 
nor are so well adapted for lumber making, yet they are quite valuable, as they are 
sufficiently large in circumference to contain an abundance of sap, which gives us 
crude turpentine from which is made the spirits of turpentine and rosin, two articles 
of commerce which ai'e daily enhancing in value, as the demand is broadening and 
increasing, while the supply from the old sources is rapidlj- declining. 

From the many facts we have already stated, we hardly think it worth while to 
particularly enumerate the many different varieties and kinds of crops and vegetables 
which may be grown in this county, for from its varied character and conditions you 
must be satisfied that with proper care and attention anything and everything nearly 
can be successfully raised. 

In reference to the advantages and favoring peculiarities to farming here, we can 
do no better than to quote the following, which we extract from the Florida Gazetteer : 
" One striking peculiaritj' of the Florida soil is its easier culture than the staffer soils. 
Another is that most of the farm labor and tillage can be performed in those months 
of the year when the ground is frozen further north. Still another peculiarity is that 
the fertilizers are applied with a better effect, both because the applications are not 
carried away by the rains as frequently as they are in higher regions, and because 
the more porous soil lets in the atmosphere more readily to aid the fertilizer in the 
work of decomposing the minerals of the soil, and setting free the food elements 
they contain for the use of the crops grown. 



FRUIT GROV/ING. 



The tioitieal and semi-tropical fruits which are groAvn in this county are of such 
great variety, and include so many difforcnt kinds, that we are pardonable if we omit 
to mention (juite a number, and fui-thcrmore, if we only mention some which justly 
merit elal>oration. Oi^ango cidture will of course be the principal object of this chap- 
ter, if we may call it such, while the other fruits will be considered in a cursory 
manner. In taking up eneh genus of fruit, we do so as they come to our minds, and 
without any reference either to their natural or logical order. 

The PiNKAPPLE, which is to a great extent an air plant, is very profitably and 
eairily grown in every section of the comity, the climate being very suitable for its 
production, and the plant depending very little upon the nutrition of the soil. In 
many of the yaixis of the private residences in Tampa these plants can be seen in 
numerous small patches in every stage, from the time of suckering to full bearing. 
We do not hesitate to say that as soon as we have more thorough and speedy means- 
of transportation for the delicate fruits, this one, which is so juicy and delicious, will 
be quite an item in the lists of shipments to the Northern markets. 

The Gt'AVA, a tree which is so numerous and so prodigal in its growth and bear- 
ing that it almost impresses upon the mind the belief in spontaneous generation, gives 
us an abundance of its elegant fruit. While its shape and manner of growth resem- 
bles the poach more tha7i an^-thing else with which pei'haps the reader is familiar, its 
fruit, in size and general appearance, is more similar to the pear. As yet experiment 
has devised no other way of utilizing the guava than converting it into jelly and mar- 
malade and preserves ; and so superb are the three considered, by even the finest 
epicures, that if carried on to any considerable extent it would prove one of the best 
paying industries of Florida. Of course it is understood that the guava is considered 
one of the most desirable and palatable Iruits we have when fresh from the tree. 

The Mango is simply superb ; nothing can excel it, and but few fruits can com- 
pare with its deliciousness. So far but little attention has been given to its culture, 
as its fruit is too dehcate to bear shipment by the slow transportation we have had, 
and it was considered too great a delicacy for those who had to look close after those 
things necessary to secui'e "meat and bread." There is only one objection to the 
mango, if objection it be, and that is it is one of those things wiiich 3"ou cannot eat 
gracefully. It has a skin like the apph', and. is about the color inside and out of a 
well-ripened banana, with a seed like an almond, except a1)out four times as large, 



38 

and is shaped like — a mango. One gentleman living near Tampa planted two mango 
switclies in his yard about eight years ago. Now thej- are luxuriant trees of about 
foilj' feet in height, and he says the crop from one of them this year will bring here, 
in Tampa, $2i0. 

The Sugar Apple, which is a shrub in growth, thrives well as far north as 
Tampa, and is especially peculiar, as its name indicates, from its extreme sweetness, 
which renders a taste for it, as well as for many other of the tropical fruits, more or 
less acquired. 

The Fig is readily grown from cuttings, and so vigorous and rapid is its growth 
that it frequently comes into bearing in two years from planting. The fruit, as all 
know, is so palatable and healthy, and the cultivation of it so easy, and its prepara- 
tion for market so simple and inexpensive, that no doubt it will soon command 
special attention. 

The Bais ANA is one of the most popular and prosperous fruits grown in our sec- 
tion, and is propagated from suckers planted in rich, moist soil. There are quite a 
number of diii'erent varieties, which vary in size as well as in flavor, and all will agree 
with us in saying that few fruits equal a well-ripened banana in delicacy and flavor. 

PiiTJMS of nearly every description are found growing wild in every section of the 
county, and from these are made some of the finest and most marketable jellies. 

In a few of the yards in Tampa the Coffee Plant is successfully grown, and its 
easy cultivation will warrant its becoming, in time, one of the leading industries of 
this and other Southern counties. In the sister county below, the first pound of coffee 
produced in the State was gro\vn last year, and the fact of the grower receiving a 
premium from the Agricultural Department is evidence of its excellent quality. 

Luxuriant Geape arbors, giving fruit of endless varieties, flourish throughout 
the county, and in point of fact they grow wild in tlie hammock and swamp lands, fre- 
<|uently beautifully and gracefully festooning the trees with their climbing vines. 
The Scuppernong is the general favorite with us, and is a success beyond all doubt. 

The Alltgatoe Peae tree (from whence or why it gets its name no one can telli 
is a beautiful ornamental shade and fruit tree, much taller than the orange, but of 
less denseness, both in the branches and foliage, resembling in its growth and appear- 
ance the magnolia. The fruit when matured is not very unlike the pear in color and 
shape, while its size is perhaps two or three times that of an ordinary-sized pear. It 
has a flavor which is peculiarly its own, and cannot be likened to anything we have 
ever tasted, and as a relish it is much liked by almost every one who tries it. This 
fruit suffers no more from transportation than the orange, and as soon as it receives 
the deserved attention its cultivation will be increased and the Northern markets 
supplied. 

The Peach, which is grown more or less in all the Southern States, but which is 
not indigenous to this State, does well with us, in a measui-e. That is to say, the 
great difticulty Avhieh seems attached to its cultivation with us is our mild winters, 
which cause irregularity in its fruiting, frequently blooming so early and so often as 
to cause the tree to drop every bloom for two or three consecutive years. 

But the most prominent, important and widely cultivated of all the fruits that 
are properly and easilj- produced in this county, as well as in the State, is the Oeange, 
with its sister fruits of the citrus family. And under the citrus genus is compassed 
all the varieties of the orange, lemon, limes, citron, shaddock and grape fruit, num- 
bering in all more than one hundred species. In respect to the cultivation of the 
orange, Florida, on account of her peculiarities of climate, soil and season, stands 
superior to all other sections of the globe and will ever maintain her present 
superiority. But it is only within the last few years that orange growing has assumed 
the proportions of an industry, although it is more than probable that the Spaniards 



39 

upon their first settlement of St. Augustine planted and successfully cultivated this 
now popular fruit. True, that in ante-bellum days, many Floridians planted groves 
near St. Augustine and along the St. Johns and Indian rivers, and even some on 
Tampa Bay ; but those were more in the nature of ornaments and embellishments of 
the houses of the independent and rich. Go back twenty years, and you will find 
that the large proportion of people in South and Middle Florida were too poor to give 
anj- attention to orange culture. The struggle was a daily and continuous one for 
the necessaries of life and no time was left for anything else, and then, too, there were 
no means of transportation ; so that really it was not until after the late war was 
ONer, and our State became renowned for its salubrious climate and was flooded with 
our Northern friends in pursuit of health and pleasure, that the delicious delicacy of 
the " rich golden fruit, ' hanging amid the dark green foliage of its mother tree, 
attracted the eye and awakened a craving for it, which soon increased the demand 
and tliereby .started what has since been appropriately termed the " orange fever." 
And since then down to the present time thousands upon thousands of tourists, in- 
valids and speculators, drawn thither by the reports of the happier forerunners, have 
continued to come, and hundreds of them, enticed by the promising profitable invest- 
ment, have purchased lands and planted groves, until now the State is dotted from 
Jiieksonville to Punta Rassa and from the Atlantic to the Gulf with orange groves of 
every age and size, from the seedlings fresh from the nursery to the full-bearing 
trees. 

On account of the immense number engaged in this industry, it is son)etimes 
asked bj' unthinking men if the market will not be over-stocked when all these groves 
come into bearing, and as a necessary sequence the profits become a "minus 
fiuantitj-." The question on its face is absurd, and is almost as foolish as that one 
which queries, "Will not the boom fall out of South Florida after a while?" To the 
first question, as to the market becoming over-stocked, a thinking mind will reason, 
the demand creates a market, the supply controls the price. Where the supply is 
small the price is high and the demand is limited. Where the supply is great the 
price becomes low and the demand more general. To bring all the groves in Florida 
now into bearing simply means to open a larger market for oranges, and to place 
within the reach of those too poor to buy now this delicious fruit of the South. The 
prices of oranges may go down, and of a right ought to when the crop is increased, 
but if a man can get a cent apiece for his crop he can coin money out of a five-acre 
bearing grove. Moreover, further than this practical way of looking at this question, 
it is estimated that of the consumption of oranges in the United States only one- 
twelfth is furnished by Florida, the remainiiiir eleven-t\velfths being received from 
aliroad. And right on the face of this it is admitted by all fair judges that of all the 
oranges in the markets the Florida orange is by far the most supeiior, which fact is 
illustrated practically by the ever-recurring fraud of palming dfT foreign oranges as 
the fruit from Florida. 

As to the second idle ([uestion, " Won't the boom fall ovit of South Florida?" Yes, 
we answer, that is, when they will have no cold, ice and snow in the North, when 
"angel health sits ever on their breezes," and they have no pidmonary diseases ; 
when Tampa Bay freezes over, and the orange trees of South Florida are laden 
with icicles and snow-fiakt'S ; when you bankrupt the North, and destroy the balmy 
air and genial climate of South Florida — then, and not till then, will the boom fall 
out. 

But to return to the orange culture. We might here in thi.s connection enter into 
an analysis of the climatic influences and the soil to show why the orange is more 
successfully grown here than in other counties : but when a fact has been generally 
admitted, we consider that time would be wasted in advancing other proofs. Already 



40 

at the very lowest calculation there is now invested in orange groves throughout the 
State more than $10,000,000, with a large and inviting field for much lai'ger invest- 
ments. This, as well as other Southern counties, did not at first take the " fever" 
and give much attention to the culture of the orange, owing to the very poor and im- 
perfect modes of transportation for the fruit to market. But now that we are at the 
terminal point of many railroads projected, and one already completed, this county 
will not long remain second to any in the State. The soil in nearly eveiy section of 
the county is adapted to the successful cultivation of the citrus fruits ; and where the 
lands are classed poor, nature has provided an abundance of good and cheap fertilizer 
which can be readily and cheaply applied in such a manner as to render them very 
productive. The soil, as has been already remarked, is peculiarly fitted for the appli- 
cation of such fertilizers, and some of our finest groves are on our poorest pine lands. 
In this connection we quote from Capt. K. W. Shupeldt's (U. S. Navy) Report of 
Exploration and Surveys : " The soil in which these fine Chimalapa oranges grow is 
peculiar, being a very clean white sand, . . . and it is on account of this 
peculiarity of the soil, no doubt, that the fruit is so unusually fine." As to the profits 
which have been received from such investments, we can only say that time and again 
a thousand dollars have been cleared from a single acre, and there is one tree twenty- 
three miles east of Tampa which in 1880 yielded a few over 10,000 oranges. Yet with 
this, as with all other businesses, thei'e are some few obstacles in the way of certain 
success. Being a very recent business pursuit, much has yet to be learned by exper- 
ience and experiments, so that many of the theories in regard to the best modes of 
cultivation are somewhat conflicting. 

In 1880 the number of bearing orange trees in this county was estimated at 
18,683, and their yield at 4,409,150, and their value at $45,410.2.5. Of course with the 
four years' "boom " the number has enormously increased, and their yield and value 
correspondingly. We do not think we would be far from right if we were to say that 
the number, etc., is now double what it was in 1880. The other members of the citrus 
family, with their numerous diiferent varieties, are also extensively and successfully 
cultivated throughout the county, although our space forbids an extended notice of 
them. Below we give an approximate estimate of the cost to bring a piece of wild 
land into a bearing grove. The price of the land avUI vary according to location, char- 
acter, etc. Our calculation is based on a ten-acre tract : 

10 acres, say at $1.25, Government price 112 -50 

(Private lands run all the way from this to $100 per acre.) 

Clearing and fencinia; with rails, at $20 per acre 200 00 

(This of course depends lai'gely upon the character and location of the land, as 
well as the accessibility of rail-timber.) 

Dwelling and houses (the dwelling, a cottage of i rocjms, and plain, rough outhouses) 250 00 

1,000 one-year-old trees 75 00 

Labor setting out trees 10 00 

Expense of cultivating and fertilizing same for eight years, at $75 per year 600 00 

$1,147 .50 

This is on the assumption that the proprietor does no labor himself and buys his 
fertilizers. Many ten-acre groves in this county now worth many thousands of dollars 
were made with far less expense than what this estimate shows. We have in our 
mind's eye one grove in this county that cannot be bought for $20,000 to-day, that 
really cost the owner nothing except the original price of the land and his own labor. 

And now, in conclusion, we say for further information concerning orange culture 
we cordially invite you to come to our county and be an eye witness to the means 
and processes used in it, as the limits of this publication forbid greater elaboration. 



,,^v »«n^a». 



RAILROADS. 

The railroad facilities of this section are as yet comparatively little developed, 
there now being but one road which traverses this county, and which has its ter- 
minus at Tampa. This road furnishes gooil transportation and accommodations, 
and the many passengers who continually fill its coaches attest its convenience. It 
is known as the South Florida Kailroad, and connects the St. Johns river on the cast 
with Tampa bay on the west, making the distance of 115 miles in five and a half 
hours, including stops at the many thriving little villages and towns which have 
sprung up all along its line. Besides this road eight others have been chartered, and 
most of which number propose to have their terminus at the head of Tampa Bay, 
with branches running to various points in the lower counties. Prominent among 
these proposed roads is the International Railroad and Steamship Line, and very 
recently Gen. John B. Gordon, its renowned President, remarked while stopping at 
the H. B. Plant Hotel that in less time than a year he woidd retiu-n to this place on 
througli cars from the North. The Yulee, system, or what is now known as the 
Florida Railway and Navigation Company, already has trains running to within 
forty miles of our county line, and is making rapid strides towards Tampa, while the 
Florida Southern and the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West have a large number 
of hands grading their road-beds to our desirable city. Gf course we do not pretend 
to say that out of the eight proposed roads none will fall through, although we have 
no right to question either the good faith or ability of any of them, and we do believe 
in the sincerity of our hearts, and not without good show of reason, that the larger 
per cent, will be constructed, not including the International and Yulee systems, 
which are certain and fixed. 

The day is not far distant in the dim future when Tampa, as (juite a railroad ter- 
mini and center, as well as the entry port for the many large vessels sailing between 
this and the countries of Central and South .Vmerica, will have assumed the propor- 
tions of a city which will surpass anything in the State of Florida, and will place her 
in the rank to which her position as the Queen of the Bays so justly entitles her. 



42 

APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO 
LAND OR INVESTMENTS. 



OFtE^^ID 



The Advertisement of the 



^HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY^ 

REAL-E8TflTE*AGENGY 



ON F»AQK TO. 



■' CITY*HOTEL, ^ 

TAMPA, FLA. 

J, FORQUER & SON, PROPRIETORS, 



The City Hotel is situated near tlae South Florida Railroad depot and convenient to the differ- 
ent wharves. It is entirely new and equipped second to none in Tampa; has forty well-ventilated 
rooms, each room having an outside window, and rooms of all sizes, single, double and for fam- 
ilies. Three stories with halls each way ; also open and closed piazzas; and will be ready to open 
October 1st, with all the modern improvements, with two dining rooms on the European Plan. 



TERM8-$2 PER DAY; $10 PER WEEK: $35 PER MONTH. 



e BAGGAGE o HANDLED « FREE * TO » AND » FROM a HOTEL* 

Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save nionev ))V it. 



FISH, 

The artificial propaj<ation and raising of fisii has within recent years attracted 
much attention and caused many experimental tests to be made both in America and 
Europe ; but with us in Hillsborough county, who possess such an extensive coast 
line, and whose large bays and many lakes afford such admirable fishing grounds, 
this (luestion has no practical intei-est. The great abundance and variety of fish to 
be found in our bays, rivers, creeks and lakes, make fish ponds of an artificial nature 
(luite unnecessary. All our waters abound in fish of the most excellent quality, such 
as the black bass, pike, jack, trout, bream and the many varieties of the perch 
family, among which may be classed the red snapper, grouper, sheepshead, red fish, 
black fish, pompano, Spanish mackerel, rock fisl>, mullet, and a long list of what are 
called " pan fish." As an economical and delicious article of food, fish is appreciated 
and used throughout the length and breadth of the universe, so it is no surprising 
fact that catching and selling them constitutes an industry fi-om which no inconsider- 
able revenue is derived. Along the coast of HilLsborough and at many points in the 
bays fishing is engaged in very extensively, and besides the immense quantities which 
are consumed at home, numbers are packed in ice and shipped fresh to other states, 
while large quantities are cleaned, salted, dried and sent to the interior, where the 
lisli are not so abundant. The fishing as a business is done chiefly with seines and 
nets, and the " strikes," as they call the catch, are frequently astounding to an inland 
stranger, often running up to hundreds of barrels. Fre(iuent pleasure or sporting 
excursions are made down the Bay to the principal fisheries, and sometimes parties 
with their families spend several weeks in the enjoyment of this nomadic life and 
fascinating sport. The "run" of the nsh, as the season for fisliing is called, begins 
about the first of October and lasts until sometime late in the spring, during which 
time many small boats containing parties of two or three can be seen anchored all 
along the bay and river. Under this head we may also mention the gieen turtle, 
which is a staple commodity of these waters. They sell readily here in our markets, 
and large numbers of them are shipped North alive, where the fastidious taste of 
epicures makes the demand great and the remuneration for catching and handling 
considerable. 

Oysters and clams are to be found in great abundance all along the coast and at 
many places in the bays, and are very large and fine indeed. These are only to be 
found in salt waters, and are taken by means of iron tongs fastened to long Vooden 



44 

liandles, and on short notice the oystermen furnish them, to places in the interior, 
fresh from the beds. In this county all kind of fishing is yet in its infancy, but no 
doubt as the county becomes more thickly populated, a business of great importance 
and magnitude will spring out of the fishing interest. In this connection we may 
throw in a few words in reference to the shell mqunds of the State, the largest of 
which is perhaps found on the old military reservation of Fort Brooke, adjoining 
Tampa, and which, on account of its size, speaks eloijuently of the palatableness of 
the shell fish as food for the Indians. The archaeologists have examined these 
mounds with much care and interest, and the theory generally arrived at is that once 
every year or season the Indians, either as a tribe or family, came down to some 
convenient point on the coast to have a picnic on shell fish, and coming frequently 
to the same place, and dropping the sliells where the fish were eaten, unconsciously 
and without design on their part these mounds grew to the proportions we now find. 
Perhaps this is the most rational, common-sense view of accounting for the shell 
mounds which everywhere bedot the coast of Florida. 




A FLORIDA LAKE. 



TIMBER INTERESTS. 



Strange, indeed, would it be did not this county, whose fine timber, both of pine 
and cypress is so plentiful and abundant, engage to a considerable extent in the lum- 
ber ti-ade, in which, as we have before remariced, there has been found independence 
and wealth. With a land surface of about 542,928 acres (rough estimate), which is 
continually being cleared of its timber for purposes of agriculture and improvements 
in many other ways, our saw-nulls are constantly supplied with the most desirable 
material, the sale of which, after it has undergone the process of sawing and general 
dressing, is accomplished without any effort whatever on the part of the seller. 
I'ntil recently, on account of our linuted and poor communication with the outside 
world, the immigration to this section was not nearly so great nor were improvements 
so general, and as a consequence no small per cent, of the timber which was cut by tlie 
natives ui the clearing of land for agricultural and horticultural purposes was not 
utilized, but was on the contrary suffered to remain in heaps of logs, which of course 
would in a reasonable time decay. Oidy tliat portion of it was used which the then 
limited home cousumi)tion demanded ; and now, when our facilities for transportation 
are improving and broadening both in respect to quantity and time, our people would 
indeed be dead to the times and their interest did they not follow the example of Pen- 
sacola and other ports along the Florida coast and establish lumber j-ards for the ship- 
ment of lumber to all parts of our great country. But the excuse which they now 
liave for not so doing, and it is a most legitimate one, is that this section, on account 
of tiie immense number of buildings which have been, are being and will be erected, 
demands more than can be supplied. We clearly see, however, tliat not far in the 
future a foreign lumber yard will be established in this county, which, on account of 
its advantages in the way of water communication, will be one of the best patronized 
of any in the State, there l)eing but two harbors on the Florida coast which carry on 
any extensive trade in this line of commerce, and over either of which Tampa Bay can 
boast — over one because of its not so convenient accessibility to timber, and over the 
other because of its greater distance by several hundred miles from those pouits on the 
Atlantic coast where are found the great lumber markets of the North and East. As 
we have already endeavored to impress on you, Tampa is quite a commercial center, 
around which in the radius of many miles there is an extensive scope of countrj- 
depending upon her for supplies ; and since it has been found, by those who have 



46 

experinieuted sufficiently to judge, that goods of an imperishable nature can be brouglit 
to this point by water with less cost than by rail, we can see no good reason why a 
foreign lumber yard cannot be established, and instead of allowing the vessels which 
bring such goods here to return to the Northern ports empty, fill their holds with our 
sawed yellow pine, which, on account of its quality, and also the spai-seness of good 
building material in other regions, will always enjoy a ready and (luick sale in the 
Noi'thern ports. Both Mexico and Central America depend upon Florida for the cross- 
ties to be used on their railroads, and points on Tampa Bay are ceilainly as convenient 
for their shipment, and in some respects more so, than any of the other harbors ; so 
notwithstantling the insufficient appropriations of Congress up to date, we predict that 
Tampa within a comparatively short space of time will be the center of a veiy consid- 
erable lumber trade with foreign places, and by foreign we mean such as are not within 
the limits of the State of Florida, for already from some stations on the South Florida 
Kailroad, and points on the Bay and Manatee river, orders are continually received for 
fine building material from the mills in this vicinity. As to the quality of Florida 
timber in general, we can do no better than to make use of a quotation from the New 
York Mercantile Journal, which is also to be found in ex-Commissioner Adams' 
pamphlet of 1873 : 

' ' Yellow pine flooring and step planks from Florida are in fair demand at $30 per 
thousand feet, while inferior lumber made in North and South Carolina moves slowly 
at from $23 to $25 per thousand. The yellow pine, so-called, growing in the Carolinas, 
is objectionable for many reasons. In the first place, the tree is of a different and less 
enduring species, and has a greater proportion of sap wood and black knots ; and in 
the second place, it is from those trees from which the manufacturers of turpentine and 
pitch get their material, thus depriving them of the ingredient upon which the durability 
and pecuUar excellence of this kind of wood depends. Owners should always require 
in their specifications that the yellow pine to be used in first-class buildings should be 
of the growth of Florida." So we can clearly perceive that which explicates the 
peculiar and constant demand for the Florida pine is its excellent quality. As to the 
extent and vastness of the growth of the pine in this and otlier sections of the State, 
some idea may be gathered from General Andrew Jackson's celebrated observation, 
"that the forests were so overgrown with trees of large spreading branches, it was 
with difficulty that a man even on foot was able to travel through them." Estimating 
that on a general average each acre of land now contains -5,000 feet of timber, which, 
however, is an exceedingly low calculation, this coimty would have in its limits 
•426,204,000 feet of available lumber, and as the pine is ordinarily generative, the sup- 
ply of timber in this comity, according to the rate of its present consumption, is, we 
may say, almost inexhaustible, especially as it is positively asserted by parties com- 
petent to judge that in the country adjoining Pensacola, notwithstanding her immense 
mill capacity, the timber grows faster than it can be cut down. 

The Bay, the Hillsborough and Alafia rivers, as well as the many smaller 
streams, aft'ord ample water for the drifting of tlie many rafts of logs which are con- 
tinually floated to the mills. The trees having been cut down and cut into convenient 
lengths, are hauled by the large log-carts to the nearest stream and there connected 
together into a raft, which, as soon as the tides are favorable, is allowed to drift to the 
mill, where long ago they have been bargained for. But the pine, we wish you to 
understand, is not the only ti'ee used in our lumber-making and lumber commerce. 
Our swamps contain large bodies of the finest cypress, from which can be sawed the 
most desirable shingles ; it is also well adapted to nearly all the pui-poses for which 
pine is used, besides it is considerably used in boat and ship-building, and the trans- 
poi-tation and sale of this wood to the North and East will in the course of time foi'm 
no insignificant branch of business. 




A FLORIDA UIVEK AND HAMMOCK SCENE. 



48 

Cedar is also found in large quantities in our swamps and low hammock lands, and 
it is principally from the Florida mills that all the Northern factories are supplied 
with their wood material for making pencils and various other articles, and notable 
among these are Faber's and Dixon's factories. Upon our high hammock lands the 
live oak, so durable and lasting, is also of very considerable growth, and it is from 
this tree, which is frequently enormous in size, that most of the ship knees are made, 
it being the most suitable wood for this and other purposes in ship-building. There 
are now in this county, by actual count, over thirty mills, some of them not only doing 
the usual common mill work, but in addition to sawing and general dressing of lum- 
ber, some convert it into doors, sashes, blinds and window-sills of various kinds and 
designs. 

Black walnut is also grown in this section, though to a limited extent, but since 
the cheapness and fertility of the lands will admit of it, and as it is a most vigorous 
grower, it is proposed to plant a forest of this timber, and fi-om the experimental tests 
already made nothing shox-t of success is predicted and expected. All along the banks 
of the streams both large and small, and along the coast, the large and elegant mag- 
nolia, with its beautiful and fragrant flowers, is found in its native soil, and also in 
many places the red bay, which, however, is only a different species of the same 
family. From these trees is obtained a most desirable wood for cabinet work, on 
account of its dark color and beautiful veins. It is commonly known as the " Florida 
mahogany," and as it is of considerable worth and grown without any culture what- 
ever, it will command careful attention and consideration. "We are not disposed to 
praise the Florida pine and other timbers beyond their true worth and just merit, yet 
we would impress upon those who have been so patient as to read the simply stated 
and unvarnished facts, not to let Florida be undervalued and misunderstood in this 
respect, since timber constitutes one of the important industries of the world. And 
since in our county grow well nearly all the various kinds of woods — woods from which 
we can make houses, ships, furniture, barrel-staves and hoops, in fact, articles of 
nearly- any and every description — we would indeed be blind to our own interests, as 
we remarked in the beginning, did we not vigorously grasp the many natural advan- 
tages and not allow them to pass untouched and unnoticed. 




"x: 






CATTLE INTEREST. 



No other industry in South Florida up to within a few years past was engaged in 
near so extensiveh' or by any means embraced so much capital as that which is 
commonly known as stock-growing, the principal and chief branch of which pursued 
in this county being the raising of cattle of the more important stamp. Until quite 
recently moi'e wealth and riches have accrued to the dealer through this investment 
than any other, a fact which conspicuously explains the number of shrewd men con- 
nected with it. Even the tillage of the soil was a secondary- mattei-. And at present, 
as in the past, in all parts of the countj- are to be found numerous herds of larger or 
smaller cattle. They are permitted by their owners to run at -large through the 
woods, and they thrive and prosper in a manner remarkably well and entirely satis- 
factory to the parties interested. Mr. F. A. Hendry, a large cattle owner, in an article 
published in the Semi- Tropical Journal, says : "Hillsborough is a beautiful county, 
and regarded as very pleasant and healthy, and formerly a large stock-raising district, 
but as the country beco^ies settled, farming and fruit-growing have to a considerable 
extent taken the place of cattle- raising, though the county is still sparsely settled and 
feeds about 50,000 head of cattle, and is regarded as a fair <'attle range." Tlie 
I'xpenses involved in raising cattle are extremely small, there being none whatever 
rounected with the pasturage, and it is only twice during the whole year that they 
•■ round up," mark and bi'and the new calves, giving little or no other attention other 
tlian this. In fact, so little expense attends tliis investment that the hide and tallow 
of a four-year-old steer will return a surprising profit upon the cost of his keep. The 
character of the cattle raised in this county is very different from the Texas cattle ; 
ours presents a sm.all appearance, with thick, heav>' necks and fore parts, while the 
loins are contracted, and at the age of three years will generally clear 300 or -iOO 
pounds. The beef is sold readily at from six to ten cents per pound, the price varying 
aceoiding to the selection of parts. It has been stated by some supposed to know, 
tliat on account of the comparative lack of nutrition in the Florida grasses, tlie 
breed would not admit of improvement; but from our own knowledge, and from 
information given us by those who have given it a fair test, we are satisfied that 
thoroughbreds of the Durham, Devon, Jei-sey, Ayrshire, Hereford and Alderney 
breeds can be introduced and crossed with the natiye stock to their marked improve- 
ment. Stock-farming of all descriptions is being generally fostered by planters as a 



50 

remunerative addition to their farm interests, not only because it furnislies tliem with 
a fine quantity and (quality of manure, but also because the benefits of the daii-y are 
quite profitable in this county. We have in our mind several farms of this character, 
which daily supply our numerous hotels and boarding houses with milk and cream of 
the richest flavor. The butter also made from this milk is simply excellent, and it 
now bids fair to take a place among the rapidly growing industries of the many local- 
ities in this county. 

But to return to the cattle industry in its largest phase. To one wholly unac- 
quainted with this subject, or one only partially so, the manner of management and 
rearing would possess a peculiar interest, and as we could not in the least wise describe 
it more perfectlj^ and concisely, we quote the following from the same article of Mr. 
Hendry's, to which we referred above : " First, the cattle ownei's are numerous and 
work in harmony for the common good, as the success of each depends upon the faith- 
ful co-operation of all. Cattle pens are erected at convenient points for gathering m 
the stock, always selecting localities where there is plenty of water, shade and good 
grazing. Our pens are built of pine logs generally, but sometimes of palmetto and 
cypress, and are so arranged as to have partitions for parceling into small lots or 
divisions. These pens are located generally from ten to fifteen miles apart, so that 
the herdsmen can pen their stock conveniently in whatever direction it may be found. 
The hunting parties generally consist of ii-om six to ten active young men, well 
mounted on tough, hardy and fleet ponies. Each party has a wagon and team to 
transport the camp equipage and supplies, and each cow boy is prepared with a good 
cow whip, tin cup, wallet and saddle-bags. The teamster acts in the double capacity 
of teamster and cook. The party generally separates from the team but one day, 
coming together at night. Thus equipi3ed, the hmiters start out early in the morning, 
the leader laying out the day's hunt, the party generally dividing into two or three 
sections. The leader is generally a man thoroughly conversant with the range, the 
marks and brands of each owner, and has the general supervision of the hunt, keeping 
a strict account of the supplies, the cost of the same, and also the counting and num- 
bering the calves marked, and the beeves gathered and sold of each owner. The meji 
are all in the saddle by sunrise in the morning, ready and anxious for their labors. 
The cattle are heard in the distance — the calves bleating, the cows lowing and bellow- 
ing in every direction. Orders are given to drive everythhig, great or small, and to 
■pen or bring together at night all cattle found in a certain scope. The cattle are gen- 
erally collected on burns, where there is plenty of green wii-e'grass, and are in small 
lots of from three to fifty head, where they are found and collected in one large drove, 
the gathering continued until the heat of the day, when the droves are conducted to 
some kno\vn spot of shade, water, etc., the cattle ready to stand quiet, and the order 
given to rest for two or three hours, the hunters dismoimt and strip their tired horses, 
and man and beast find refreshment. By this time a large drove of from five hmidred 
to one thousand are collected, consisting of calves from one to two days old to the 
largest bulls and steers that roam the forest. When refreshed, all hands mount their 
hoi'ses and start the drove in the direction of the ranch or pens, moving at the rate of 
about one mile per hour. The herd is driven into the pens, the bars or gates are 
secured, and all hands, wearied, dusty, himgry and thirsty, repair to the camp . . . 
and after supper the horses are rubbed down, watered and fed, and turned loose on 
the luxuriant grass which abounds in almost every loccility. . . . The marking 
and branding is the most laborious labor of any connected with the whole business, 
and it usually takes a whole day to mark, brand and regulate one of these herds. 
After the beef cattle are selected and separated, the calves are all marked and the 
hei'd are all turned oack upon the range whence they came, and the party proceeds to 
repeat the same labor in other directions." 



52 

The above account, which is true as well as miaute, will enable you by your own 
calculations to arrive at the small cost of this line of business, and as the cattle trade 
has proven profitable in the past, so in the future will it rank high among our indus- 
tries, until all the available lands in this and the other counties shall be subjected to 
the purposes of agriculture. Tlie cattle men, however, are generally speaking the 
shrewdest men in the county, and certainly deserve encomiums for the manner in 
which they have trained themselves to forestall future events, and when their own 
interests and the good of the country require it, which, however, is yet in the future, 
they can and will turn their talents and attention to something else. Apart from home 
consumption. Key West and Cuba are our most important markets. The trade with 
those points was first established by Capt. James McKay, Sr., whose memory, though 
he has long since departed from the sorrows and trials of this life, will ever remain 
dear to a grateful people. "We may safely say that on an average there are annuallj- 
shipped to Key West and Cuba about 18,000 head of beef cattle from the five counties of 
Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Monroe and Brevard. It may seem strange, but neverthe- 
less it is a fact admitted, that the Florida beef finds readier sale with the Cubans than 
heavy Texas beef ; and the reason given by the Cubans is that the meat is so much more 
agreeable to the taste. The trade with these markets continues for about four 
months, commencing about the last of May and terminating some time in September 
or October. In reference to the gathering and herding of cattle, it strikes us that few 
pictures can be more pleasing and beautiful than an immense prairie covered with a 
fresh coat of green grass as far as the sight can reach, whose surface is dotteil all over 
with the scattered herds like the cattle upon a thousand hills. 

As to that branch of stock-raising which has sheep for its object, the very least 
we can say is that wherever a fair trial has been granted it, profitable results have 
always been experienced. We are free to admit that in those portions of the county 
where vegetation is comparatively sparse and coarse, while sheep will prosper on it at 
a fair rate, they produce an inferior quality of both wool and mutton ; yet by their 
continued presence and under their gx-azing, the pine lands become enriched, and it is 
found that sheep and new characters of vegetation prove of mutual benefit to each 
other. Of course the better class of lands furnish pasturage, upon which the flocks 
flourish more than ordinarily well from the beginning, and the profits received from 
their wool and mutton give a large per cent, upon the capital invested. In compailson, 
we may say that notwithstanding the fact that cattle-raising has ever been a paying 
industry, it is thought by many that sheep will prove somewhat more profitable. 




TAMPA BAY. 



Seiisations of utter inability, begetting the most disturbing apprehensions, fret 
the bi'ain, as we propose to dwell for a few moments upon a subject which has inspired 
the romantic writers to their greatest and most glorious effoils. What child in all 
America has not had his little breast to heave with emotions of excitement and fei-vent 
gratitude, as he devoured with eagerness page alter page of that pleasing little volume 
entitled "The Young Marooners." And it was in Tampa Bay that this family met 
with all their wonderful experiences and mysterious mishaps. This beautiful and 
niagniticent expanse of water, which has often been pronounced by U. S. Coast Sur- 
veying parties to be the best harbor south of Pensacola, is wholly situated in Hills- 
liorough county, and extends from the Gulf on the southwest for more than forty 
miles in a northeasterly direction, having an average width of twelve or fifteen miles. 
At its northern extremity a projection of land divides it into two large anus, which are 
commonly known as Old Tampa and Hillsborough Bays, and at the head of the latter is 
the present site of Tampa, which city we have already spoken of. Emptying into 
it from all directions are numerous interesting and highly picturesque streams, some 
of them taking their source from far inland, among the most important of which are 
the Hillsborough, Alalia and Little Manatee rivers, whose waters are Uiavigable for 
small boats for many miles. A person standing upon the deck of one of the elegant 
steamers plowing this grand body of water at the rate of twelve^ or lilteen knots an 
hour, will be charmed and enriianted with the tropical and semi-tropical scenery 
which meets the gaze on every side, and many are the ejaculations of admiration and 
astonishment. "The forests of cabbage i)alm<.>tto nodding their evergreen plumes in 
the nioniing sun, the statelj' date palms and olive trees on Snead's Island, on tlu^ north 
side of the Bay, and the pretty villas surrounded by the young orange and banana 
groves on the south side, form a landscape of rare tropical beauty, unexcelled in the 
Land of Flowers and unrivaled by the fairest scenes in Italia's famed land." The 
Tampa Trihtine of recent date contains an article on Tampa Bay by Mr. S. A. Jones, 
which for its clear presentation of truths and a straightfonvaixl statement of facts 
cannot be excelled. From it we extmct the following : 

"Stranger, have you ever thought of a lake forty miles long and over one huiulre<l 
miles of shore, and all these shores visible to the traveler of the Southern coast? 
This wonderful lake will and does float the largest size vessels, and also this wonderful 
lake has an outlet that all the trade by ships, and from all over the world, can come 



54 

in her waters and find a good and safe harbor, and railroad connections to transport 
their cargoes to all the North and West, the only air line route from the great 
Bahamas, "West Indies, Cuba and the South American and Caribbean ports. This 
beautiful lake is surrounded bj' a rich, healthy and fertile country, and it abounds 
with every kind of scale and shell fish in superabundance. This lake has bathing 
grounds superior to those of Saratoga, and a great and surprising thing is that its 
waters are wann and pleasant to bathe in from one year's end to the other. Those 
living along her shores are fanned by the soft salt breezes that purify the air and per- 
meate the system with health and strength, no matter from whence the wind maj' blow. 
There are no swamps to distribute the malaria that mox'e or less prevails in all of 
them. This wonderful lake assures all who settle near her shores a healthy home, and 
sure and cheap transportation to market for all their fruits and vegetables. Eight 
here let me say that on the shores of this lake can be produced all kmds of tropical 
fruits and many of the finest and most delicate varieties that cannot be raised any- 
where north of these waters. This lake has a number of feeders in the shape of 
navigable rivers penetrating far into the comitry, to induce those in the interior to raise 
many products on accoimt of easy and cheap transportation to the great markets of the 
world. This lake has so many advantages over our sister counties' lakes that we fear 
to say more about it, else we may break the charm. "While we do know and feel that 
those little inland mirrors are beautiful reflections from our great mother lake of them 
all, but to find a business home and pleasure home combined none can offer the 
inducements, convenience and facilities that we offer. This lake has not long been 
known to the outer world, but is now just begimiing to invite people to come and air 
themselves in her gentle breezes. None have ever rested on her bosom that have not 
given her a pledge that soon they would return and cast their lots forever by her 
enticing shores. There is also a beautiful little city filled with live and enterprising 
people on the shores of this lake ; a city that is destined to be the metropol'is of the 
South. It has all the conveniences of a modem city under construction, and in a short 
time will be filled with people from every clime. Already the great 'medicine men ' 
have heard of her glory as a home for the sick and feeble, and have come to discuss 
her merits as to the advisability of sending their sick here to be cured — not by 
medicines, but by the health-giving breezes that rise from this beautiful lake. And 
right well do they talk over the wonderful pure air that they could not believe existed 
until they came to see for themselves. Now there is room for many thousands on this 
lake, and we will welcome you to its shores. Just read the papers that go out from its 
shores shortly, and you will find a cheap way to come and a cheap way to stay. This 
is one of God's choicest blessings to the American men and women, and none should 
fail to come and see it. There are no great swarms of insects, and ponds of crocodiles 
and snakes ; there are no swamps and pestilence, as has been so often told you for 
fear that you might come — for none have ever come who did not pledge themselves to 
return. For the fact is self-evident that this lake region is destined to soon be the 
grand winter and summer resort of tlie United States. It is told abroad and also in 
our own State, to the discredit of our neighbors of the northern and eastern parts of 
our State, that this great lake comitry is filled with cut-throats and that malaria is 
ever present, none of which is true ; and it is a burning shame that the people visiting 
this State will hear people abusing all sections but the dear, beloved spot on which 
they live. It is either that the railroads will entirely miss this or that locality, and 
the absolute fact that some of our near neighbors are foolish enough to trj' to make 
strangers believe that this great lake which we speak of is to be left out entirely, and 
their beautiful pools are to be the great commercial centers of the State. Now we 
want to see a fine sanitarium and village on the banks of them, but do not try to 
delude the unsuspecting strangers with the idea that these little pools have anything 



55 

to do with the great commerce of the world. All we ask is that all who come to 
Florida, take the map of our State and county, when one glance will convince you 
that this lake I have tried to lay before you possesses advantages possessed by none in 
the South ; showing, beside, when the railroad gives us through lines north, we are on 
the only practicable air line east, west and north from the great world south of Florida. 
Already the enterprising men of the South Florida Railroad are fast arranging to 
carry the great Northern mails south through this lake and return with the sugar, tea, 
coffee and fruit trade of the South American ports. Soon this lake will be made a 
jiort of entry, and it is onlj' a question of time as to when tine custom houses will be 
built on her shores. We will close by saying, when you start to Florida cast your eye 
on the map and look closely at Tampa Bay, and buy your ticket straight through. 
You can tind all these advantages, beauties, comforts and health here, and in the 
fast-growing city of Tampa, beautifully located on her banks. Let those that under- 
stand read and be wise." 




AX OllANOK NllSSKKV. 




A MAMJlcJTH FLORIDA TREE. 



EARLY VEGETABLES. 



The production of early vegetables in Florida has of late years been engaged in 
'liiite extensively, and especially in the Southern counties in geneml and Hillsborough 
in particular, and their shipment to the Noilhern markets is assuming such enoi-mous 
proportions that in time Florida will prove as famous and renowned on accoimt of her 
vegetables as she is on account of her fine oranges and other fruits. It is already 
adjudged by those who engage in it a most important and profitable feature of her 
industries. It is on record that in the early season cabbages were shipped from 
Tallahassee, and the returns from the Northern markets to the shippers showed a net 
profit of SiJOO per acre; and since Hillsborough county is situated several hundred 
miles to the southward, and can and does produce almost every description of vegeta- 
bles, there is no good reason why the same handsome profits cannot be realized from 
the shipments of this place. In Sovilh Florida more than any other section of the 
State, tomatoes, cucumbers and beans hav<» been the most important articles for siiip- 
luent up to the present time; but on its fertile soil pe.as, potatoes, cabbages and many 
other vegetables can be grown at seasons which will command for them fancy prices. 
At the lowest and most liberal calculations, it is estimated that from $400 to $700 can 
lie easily realized on one acre of cal>l)age or potatoes, and such calculations are made 
from a few experimental shipments which were made during the past season. The 
profits which have accrued to the truckman from cucumbers alone are really surpris- 
ing. The great difficulty which has attended this brancli of Hillsborough's industries 
was her lack of quick and reliable transportation ; but at present her facilities may bo 
^-aid to be fair, and the good promise of their nudtiplication and enlargement predicts 
an era in vegetabkvgrowing in this county hitherto unknown in these Southern States. 
The sweet potato is the most universal, or more nearly so tiian any of the other 
vegetables, tiie cause, perhaps, lieing its ea.sj- propagation from the roots, sprouts or 
\ines. It may be planted any season of the year, and need not be taken from the 
ground until required for use, except in mid-winttu'. 

The Irish potato, or white potato, is not indigenous to these parts, but, it is said, 
was introcluced into America by the Spaniards, from whence it was earricnl to England 
by Sir Walter Raleigh. It is more than probable that it got the name of Irish from 
the excellent quality of them produced in the soil of Ireland. This tuber has within 
late yejxrs attracted special attention, and is one of the most profitable of the early 
<nops in Florida. On account of our mild and equable climate, this species of potato 



58 

is capable of being grown from nearlj' one end of tlie year to tiie otlier, and fancy 
prices liave been realized when they have been shipped to Northern and Eastern mar- 
kets about the time the native crop is planted or exhausted. From $125 to $150 have 
often been realized from an aci-e of potatoes, and in some localities these figures have 
been gi'eatly exceeded. Considerable attention is also given to the egg plant, 
tomatoes, onions, cabbages, peas, cucumbers, beans, squash and many others, all of 
which do exceedingly well and pay surprisingly. Come and tr3' a truck farm while 
the orange grove grows. 




AN OKANGE GKOVE AND LAKE. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



The times demand more education and less illiteracy, and the educational system 
of this State, as provided by enactments of the Legislature, though it does admit of 
improv(>monts in some particvdars, certainly evinces a marked determination on the 
{)art of the people to meet so popular a demand. The system of Public Instruction is 
overlooked by a State Superintendent, assisted by a State Board of Public Instruction, 
a County Board of Public Instruction and County Superintendent of Education for 
each county; together with local trustees of each school. The numerous public 
schools in each county are supported by the interest of the Public School Fund, a 
State tax of one mill on the dollar, coupled with a county tax of not less than two and 
a half and not more than four mills on the dollar. The interest from the Fund and 
the receipts from the one-mill tax are distributed among the respective counties in 
J proportion to the number of children ranging from four to twentj'-one years of age, 
liut tliey are apportioned to the schools according to the average attendance of 
scholars between the ages of six and twenty-one years. A teacher, in order to obtain 
one of tiieso schools, must be in possession of a certificate of qualification granted by 
the county school 1)oard or the State Superintendent after a due examination, and 
tliese certificates are retiuired to be renewed every year. As to the quality of schools 
in this county, we do not doubt but that Hillsborough can boast, since our teachers 
are generally paid salaries which do not, as in many of the other counties, depend 
entirely upon the public monej- which is given according to the average attendance, 
but are helped by private contribution or tuition, and this fact draws to us from other 
counties and other states a host of well-educated and well-trained teachers in search 
of schools, and from these we have our pick. 

There are now in this county sixty -seven well-established schools, whicli luive 
terms of five months every year. Besides these there are many private schools, 
taught by graduates of some of our best-known colleges, and in tliese, as well as in 
our public schools, the pupils are fitted for at least the ordinary pursuits of life, while 
in a few of a higher character sufficient education is bestowed for purposes of business 
and profession. The scliools are all well attended, and since the teachers are not only 
required to stand the regular examination to show up tlieir educational qualifications, 
but also to give the most satisfactory proof of their moral character, the educational 
advantages of this county are good and will compare very favorably with nurnj- older 
and more thickly settled sections of the country at large. 



SPONGE INTEREST. 



There was a time within tlie niemoiy of the present generation when all the 
.si)onges used in the United States were fumisheil by ships from the Mediterranean ; 
Vint about the yfiar 1852 the western coast of Florida began to attract minute and wide- 
spread attention on account of the immense numbers found in the waters along this 
coast, and since then sponge-ttshing has been carried on all along the western coast of 
Florida. The fisheries are chiefly confined to the southwestern pait of the coast, 
extending all along the shoals and reefs from St. Marks to a point oft" the coast of 
Hillsborough county, a distance of several hundred miles. At fii-st these sponges 
were easily obtained from the fisherman at ten cents per pound, but as soon as it was 
asceilained that their (juality compared favorably with those obtained from the 
Mediterranean, merchants began to engage in the business actively and extensively, 
ami as those gathered in the Mediterranean began to grow scarce, their demand and 
value increased correspondingly. 

At one time the first known fisheries on the coast of the kind under discussion 
began to fail, and it was tlien that an area of much more expanse was discov- 
ered, and which contained the most excellent quality of sponge. This discovery 
seemed to endow the enterprise with a new impetus, and in that and succeeding years 
many places along the coast fitted out vessels for the special purpose of engaging in 
that basiness. Tiie effects of the weather upon the residts of the fishing are of no 
small conseq\ience, real rough weather rendering it entirely impracticable. A com- 
plete failure has been experienced in some years, but such is a veiy rare occurrence, 
and those years may be numbered upon the exceptions. 

As the price of any article fluctuates according to the supply, it nuitters not 
materiallj- whether large or small quantities are caught, the profits remaining gener- 
ally about the same. The method pursued by the spongers on the Floriila coast 
jiresents a striking t'ontrast to that used in the waters of the Mediterranean. There 
the sponges are obtained l>y the fisliermen diving for them. Here, small vessels con- 
taining crews of twelve or fifteen men are sent out to cruise on the sponging grounds, 
and on arriving upon them they divide into paii"s, lietaking themselves to small skiffs. 
One of the pair manages the skiff or "dingy," as the small boat is called, while the 
other leans as far over the side as possible, scanning as closely as possilile the ground 
over which there generally is not a great many feet of water, and wiiich is usually 
t'lear as crystal, ami this is done with tlie aid of a common wooden bucket witii a 



62- 

magnifying-glass bottom, which is put over the water and the face thrust as far into it 
as convenient. As soon as a sponge is spied the boat is brought to an immediate 
stand-still as near as possible by a dextrous use of the oars, and the sponge then 
secured by means of a two-pronged iron hook fastened to the end of a long pole. No 
small amount of skill and care is required of both of the men in the boat. The pre- • 
paration of the sponge for market is also an interesting feature. They are placed 
along the deck of the vessel in an upright position, in order that they may defunct in 
a natural position, and while decomposition is transpiring allow the gelatinous matter 
to escape freely. They are then thrown into pens of water built along the shore, 
where the remaining matter is soaked and pressed out. From May until August is 
considered the principal season for these cruises, but even in the winter months it has 
been carried on with surprising success. We would not even unwittingly praise any 
enterprise beyond its just deserts ; neither would we do so for selfish reasons ; but we 
verily believe there is a remimerative field open to a live man in the sponge fishing, 
and with Tampa as convenient headquarters, many vessels might be profitably 
engaged m that trade off the west coast of this county. 




STEEET SCENE IN A SOUTH FLORIDA TOWN. 



CLIMATE AND HEALTH OF HILLSBOROUGH. 

The clLaiatc of Florida is so generally understood throughout every section of the 
civilized world that the reader would indeed have just cause to complain of our taxing 
his patience did we propose to be very prodigal in our observations upon it ; and to bo 
frank upon this subject, we would remain silent, were it not so closely connected with 
the health. It is not a hot climate in summer, Ijut on the contraiy is mild and subject 
to very few atmospheric changes. 

The winters are neither cold nor freezing, but uniformly cool and bracing, and 
during the whole year the cloudy and disagreeable daj'S may be regarded as the excep- 
tions, fair, bright and sunny days being the general rule. We recognize that the sum- 
mer is longer, but the heat is less oppressive than mid-summer at the Noi*th, which 
fact you can gather from the following meteorology, which we extract from a pamphlet 
published by Dr. Wall : 

"Tampa, being nearly centrally situated on the Gulf coast, and some thirty miles 
interiorly from the Gulf at the head of Hillsborough Bay, is selected as a fair medium 
locality for the following meteorological observations. These are taken from the sta- 
tistical report of the Surgeon General's Office, published in 1856 : The mean temperature 
for the seasons and for the whole year for twenty-five years is, spring, 72 deg. 08 miii. ; 
summer, 80 deg. 20 min. ; autumn, 71 deg. Oi min. ; winter, (J2 deg. 35 rain. ; whole year, 
72 deg. iS min. Tlie mean rainfall for the seasons and for tiio whole year for sixteen 
years is, spring, 8.51! inches ; summer, 28.21 mches ; autumn, 10. ('>3 inches ; winter, 8.01 
inches ; whole year, 55.17 inches. The following summary of the weather is the mean 
for nine years. (The capitals indicate the direction of the wind, and the figures the 
numbers of days from that direction.) N., 27; N.E., 73; E.,f)0; S.E., 14; S., 10; 
S.W.,13; W., 13; N.W.,29; fair, 215 ; cloudy, 143 ; rainy, 98." 

For days together New York, Boston and other Northern places show in summer 
teniperature as high as 100 degrees ; it is very seldom that it ever reaches that degree 
in Florida for a single day, generally ranging below 90 degrees. The atmosphere is 
not oppressive, sultiy, close or humid, but the mornings and evenings are alwaj's cool 
and refreshing. As to the diseases, we quote from Dr. Wall again in his same publica- 
tion. He says that the endemic diseases only comprise those of malarial origin, such 
as intermittent and remittent fever, and of those the types are mild, tlie pernicious 
and malignant cases being the exceptions. 

Of the continued fevers, such as typhoid and typho-malarial, not a case lias 



64 

occurred within an experience of fifteen years. Tliis will be a fact of important 
significance to tliose wiio recall the scourging devastation of typhoid fever at the North 
and "West. In a residence of seventeen years in Tampa, yellow fever made its appear- 
ance once, which was in 1871 ; since that time Tampa has been entirely free from its 
visitation, while Jacksonville, Femandina and Pensacola have not, a fact which goes 
to prove that the people of this section are alive to the needs of good quarantine regu- 
lations and also to a good internal sanitaiy condition. The dengue makes occasional 
visits to this section, and while it is very painful, mortality is a very seldom conse- 
quence. This disease first made its appearance in Philadelphia, having been imported 
from the West Indies. Both the j'ellow fever and the dengue can be as easily stamped 
out in the Southern as in the Northern cities, since it is not endemic but an exotic. 
The yellow fever has existed as an epidemic as high north as Portland, Maine. 

Idiopathic diseases of the liver, with the exception of an occasional case of jaun- 
dice, are unknown to Dr. "Wall, and are very imcommon. " Acute inflammatory affec- 
tions of the respiratory organs — except an occasional catarrh, with some bronchitis — 
are extremely infrequent as a rule, though here, as elsewhere, an epidemic influenza 
sometimes pi-evails, during which serious pulmonary complications in some cases are 
de^'eloped, taking their departure apparently from the epidemic disease. But idiopathic 
pneumonia and pleurisy occur very rarely, and are never so common as to be considered 
as even approximating an endemic or an epidemic character. Diarrhoea and dysentery 
only occur as sporadic diseases, and never in an epidemic or malignant form. These 
diseases are generally mild, and readily yield to ti'eatment. No case of acute rheum- 
atism has ever come mider my observation, except when the patient was also suffering 
with a gonorrhoeal discharge more or less acute." 

Cerebro-spinal meningitis, whether as sporadic or epidemic, is unknown in the State 
south of Ocala, where it is said to have prevailed in the winter of 1863-4. Traumatic 
tetanus occurs but very infrequently after womids or injuries, and the Doctor further 
declares that this section has escaped diphtheria, though there are not wanting physi- 
cians here, as everywhere, who, either from ignorance or an unprofessional anxiety for 
reputation, call almost every affection of the throat diphtheria. Insolation or 
sunstroke never occurs in either town or country. No instance of hydrophobia, in 
either animal or human, within the State has come within our knowledge. The mor- 
tality of this section is extremely low, and that from malarial fevers for the last few 
years has been nil, and so far as statistics can be made available they show a less per- 
centage of mortality than any other State in the Union. The entire absence of many 
diseases moi'e or less fatal in their character, and the greater mildness of those of 
malarial origin, cannot fail to demonstrate the natural salubrity of the climate. Much 
of this exemption from the graver forms of disease depends doubtless upon its great- 
er freedom from the extremes of temperature. 

"We have thus quoted rather fully from this valuable pamphlet, not only because 
of our appreciation of its intrinsic value, but also because of our own Inability to treat 
so difficult a subject in the scientific manner it properly merits. Out of justice to 
Dr. "Wall, we think it highly proper for us to state the year of its publication, which 
was some time in 1874. 



CONCLUSION, 

In concluding these pages upon a section of countrj' which is favoreri witli all the 
natural advantages and facilities for so many of the callings of life, we wish it to be 
remembered that we have endeavored to steer clear of all exaggerations, and we have 
endeavored to set forth nothing except sucn facts and opinions as arc justified by 
experience, observation and study. We are frank in our confessions that tliese pages 
are intended to attract people to our midst wlio will help to swell our population and 
tiike advantage of our many unbounded resources; but, nevertheless, we have confined 
oui-selves to the path of truth and honesty, which fact will manifest itself to you upon 
your arrival among us, for you will then see that there are many attractions which we 
lia\t^ not even mentioned, and that those of which we have taken notice are not painted 
as vividly and glowingly as a just and fair estimate warrants. By a careful penisal 
you have no doubt observed that we have tenaciously clung to our purpose not to plact^ 
intfutionally any other section of our beloved State in an unfavorable light, nor have 
we in the least intended t() disparage any of our sister counties l)y clo.se comparisons 
with our present subject, for it ha„s not been our object, nor will it ever be, to praise 
our own section to the detriment ami danmg*^ of another. Come among us, and by 
our congeniality and hospitality we will try to cause you to think of us as friends and 
old acquaintances ; few of us are " natives to the manner born," for we are either immi- 
grants ourselves or the offspring of immigrants. We do not invite any to come into 
our midst who have the mistaken idea deep down in the recesses of tlieir hearts that 
here people are exempt from that inexoi'ablo rule, "in the sweat of thy brow thou 
shalt eat bread," and that money grows on trees, or that full-bearing orange groves, 
and fruit farms spring into existence simply because one will settle in Florida ; on the 
contrary', instead of advising such to come, we advise them to stay away, for we want 
no such fools. Florida is good and great enough in all her advantsiges, and God 
Almighty has in a wonderful way lilessed Hillsborough county, but if you allow imag- 
ination to run away with you and to paint in glowing colors wondrous things to V)e 
accc^mplished in this sunny clime of ours outside of the pale of connnon human effort, 
you will be greatly disappointed when you come. So we sa,>', liyto be practical in 
your ideas, and keep youi-solf on a plane of human life and earthly coimtries. We 
desire all who will do this to come and live among us, foi- here you can be healthy, 
l>rosperous and happy. 

We not only wish the rich anfi imlcpcndcul with thtur capital to come, but also 



66 

those of the humbler walks of life, for Hillsborough county needs one as much as the 
other, and offers to the poor and rich alike opportunities of the rarest kind. We wish 
you to fill no subordinate places, except from choice, for if you are scarce in pocket, the 
cheapness of our many vacant lands and the easy terms upon which they can be pur- 
chased will admit of your becoming proprietors in fee simple. And especially- do we 
want those of an agricultural and horticultural turn of mind, so that the cultivation of 
our earlj^ vegetaVjles may receive the attention and development they deserve. 
Mechanics and skilled artisans we wish also, for there is no vocation among us which 
does not admit of greater attention and development. Most earnestly do we insist 
upon those coming who have capital for investment, for we wish to see all our 
resources put upon the footing which their merit and greatness commands. In fact, 
there are none but the lethargic and inert whom we do not want to come and identify 
themselves with us. 

We are satisfied that you understand our invitation well enough now for us to 
draw these imperfect pages to a close sayiby ng that if you come into our midst, the 
full right hand of every citizen in Hillsboroign county will be extended to you in hon- 
est and sincere friendship, so we say in farewell. Come one, come all, and see what the 
Lord hath done for us. 




AVENXE BOKDEltlNG ORANGE OEOVE. 



APPENDIX. 

Since tho foregoing was written and arranged, se\eral matters of no small impor- 
tance have attracted our attention, and out of common justice to tliem it is necessary 
tiiat they be at least mentioned and briefly noticed. At this juncture, also, we would 
l)eg the indulgence of the patient reader while we express our deep regrets that slioit- 
ness of time and unfavorable circumstances have prevented the insertion of statistics 
in any of the branches of business, both mercantile and otherwise. However, by a 
careful perusal, you have acquired sufficient infornuition to permit of your arriving at 
an approximate estimate of these and other things of peculiar moment. 

By our seeming negligence, one of the most praiseworthy features of Tampa was 
on the verge of being omitted, for very recently a Board of Tiade was organized, and 
its actions already convince the veriest pessimist that by organizations of that char- 
acter much more can be accomplished than by the non-co-operative efforts of individ- 
uals with their petitions and prayers. We have examined the constitution and by-laws 
of this association, and as one of its many objects is to foster, encoui-age and develop 
ttie mercantile, manufacturing and other interests of Tampa and its suburbs, it has 
and will retain the sympathies and assistance of every class of the citizens. Already 
it has put on foot a movement which in all probability will give us within a reasonalde 
length of time street-cars thi'ough all the principal thoroughfares out into convenient 
parts of the vicinity; but its many determinate purposes we find ourselves unable to 
consider. 

Another item of .significance is in reference to a Journal which will be published 
l>v tlie Hillsborough County Real Estate Agency, and beyond even the shadow of a doubt 
its proposed system of advertisement and general management is simply- unique. This 
Journal will be called the Tampa Courier, and in tli«^ sincere and honest opinion of the 
writer (apart from all other considerations), its advertising advantages are of such a 
nature that it will afford opportunities whicli have never before been in the reach of 
any section of Florida. The writer speaks not without sufiicient knowledge. 

The following letter was received a few days previous to the present writing, and 
a.s it speaks for itself, we simply apj)end without any comments : 

To 

Dear Sir : 

Mr. S. A. Jones informs me that in the descriptive article 
you are writing for the Hillsborough County Eeal Es-tate Agency you will want to men- 



«8 

tion the various branches of business, insurance with the others ; and to enable you to 
say what you desire on this subject, I submit the following data : 

The following fire insurance companies are represented hi Tampa and Hillsborough 
county by Thos. A. Carruth, agent : 

Home, of New York ; Continental, of New York ; New York Underwriters' Agency : 
Hartford Fire, of Hartford, Conn. ; Liverpool and London and Globe; Springfield 
Fire and Marine, of Springfield, Mass. ; Providence Washington, of Providence, E.. I., 
and New Orleans Insurance Association, of New Orleans, La. Also the Travelers' 
Life and Accident, of Hartford, Conn., and the Equitable Life Insurance Association, 
of New York. Thos. A. Carruth, agent, and Dr. John P. Wall, medical examiner. 

Respectfully, 

Thos. A. Carruth. 




ALACHUA SINK, FLORIDA. 




MK. \V:M. a. .M<)|!I!1S(IS S VII.IA M I \MIV. 



71 

JNO. T. LESLEY, S.A.JONES, LAWSON CHASE, GEO. T. CHAMBERLAIN, 
President. Gen'l. Manager. Secretary. Treasurer. 



^^^^SBOROUGH C0U,ry 




^^r 



REAL ^ ESTATE ^ AGENCY 




TAN^IPA, FLORIDA. 



This Agency offers the best and most complete facilities to huyei's or settlers, of 
any Agency in South Florida. We ai-e prepared to give you the cheapest and most de- 
siral lie routes to come to Florida, and special facilities for locating here. We have 
lands and property of every tlescription to suit the wants of all classes. Wild land 
for colonies, improved lauds, houses, groves, plantations, truck-farms, etc., on creeks, 
rivers, lakes and baj'S for private parties. Town lots and town houses in all the towns 
in tliis county. Valuable lands, groves, farms, etc., in all of the adjoining counties. 

We locate lands, look after homesteads, contract for and superintend improve- 
ments, i)ay taxes, perfect titles, secure abstracts, procure deeds and look after and 
attend to any and all kinds of business in our line, entrusted to us. Furnish any in- 
formation relatmg to this pax't of Florida to any and all seeking homes to settle on, 
or for investment among us. This agency will make loans for parties desiring to 
place money in Florida ; obtain paying rate of interest and guarantee ample and safe 
securities. 

We are a chartered company, and besides being responsible, arc amenable to the 
laws of the Stati; that granted us our charter. So all who contract with us or entrust 
tljeir funds to its can feel safe and sure of fair dealing and protection in their trusts, 
and not being speculated on. We do not speculate; but buy and sell, strictly, on 
commission. We take property at a price. We sell at that price. All of our tran- 
sactions are regularly recorded, and our books are our and your protection and proof. 
This is our home. It is the most desirable part of Florida. We want it known. We 
want to build it up and are working to that end. We publish to this end and with this 
aim one of the largest papers in South Florida. Send us your address. Come and 
see us and we promise you " the best the market affords." 



72 

Wm. B. Bakek, Pres. Kobt. A. Hintze, Treas. Eobt. B. Farson, Secy. 






HINTZE & BAKER COHPANY.^* 



c5^' ^Ss^^iS^?if^5K??^iSf3""^^ ^s'^ 




JIANUFACTUr.EKS OF 



SASH, DOORS, BLINDS, MOULDINGS, 

STAIR WORK, Etc. 

LUMBER ST., COR. TW'E^^XY SECOND, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



RAILROAD $ LANDS. 

In Putnam, Marion, Alachua, Hernando, Polk, 
and Hillsborougli Counties. 



LANDS OF ALL CLASSES AND GRADES, ON RIVERS AND RAILROADS, AT 
PRICES RANGING FROM $2.50 TO $10 PER ACRE. 



ADDRESS 

S. I. WAILES, 

Land Commissioner, 

FLORIDA RAILWAY AND NAVIGATION COMPANY, 

108 West Bay Street, Jacksonville, Fla. 

P. O. BOX 723. 



ARE YOU INTERESTED IN FLORIDA? 



S UBSCRIB E' 



SOUTH FLORIDA COURIER, 



PUBLISHK1> AT- 



PLANT CITY. FLORIDA. 



The Courier i^ an eiglit-columii, rimr-pagc wi'ekly iii'\v.s|)ap<'r, dcvotod to tlio 
interests of Florida in general and Hillsborongli county ami Planl City in particular. 



Terms: $2.00 per Year; Six Months. $1.00. 



Democratic in politics — but polities are secondary to our aims and |iurpo.ses of 
building up and developing this favored section of the world. 



SAMPLE COPIES SENT ON APPLICATION. 

F. W. MERRIN & SONS. PROPRIETORS. 



74 



J, D. CLARKE & CO., 



DEALERS IN 



DRY ^ GOODS 



BOOTS, SHOES IHD HATS IND GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS. 



Also Light Groceries. Shoes a Specialty, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

JOHN F. BROWNING, 

— AGENT 

DOMESTIC AND WHITE SEWING MACHINES, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



FOURTEEN YEARS' EXPERIENCE. 

After a close application to business for a number of years, in machines, I can safely say 
tliat I am now offering to the public superior machines and on better terms than they have 
ever had before. 

The Domestic and White, two of the best machines now in use, both with new and elegant 
wood-work, new steel sets of attachments and attached to the machines without the use of 
screw or screw driver, and so simple and practical that a child ten years old can tuck, fell, cord, 
bind, puff, plate, shirr and gather with perfect ease. 

If you have an old machine, exchange it for a Domestic or White. Call and see or write for 
circulars. All kinds of machine needles, oils and attachments genei-ally. 

Washington Street, next door to E. A. Clarke & Co., Tampa, Fla. 

AGENT. 



75 



THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, 

TAMPA, FLA. 

Terms of Subscription, $2.00 Per Annum. 



The Tribune is regarded by all as one of the most reliable papers in the State, and 
is tlevoted to the encouragement of immigration and the development of the vast 
resources of the Peninsular portion of Florida, consisting of the Counties of Hills- 
liorougli, Hernando, Polk, Manatee, and the Caloosahatchie region of Monroe. It 
has a lai'gt; and increasing circulation in all the Counties bordering on the Gulf, and 
is therefore the 

*BEST * ADVERTISING * MEDIUM * IN «- SOUTH * FLORIDA.* 



TAMPA 

is the largest town on the mainland in Soutli Florida, and located at tlie head of 
Hillsliorougli Bay, a subdivision of Tampa Bay, wliicli is the largest bay and best 
liaibor on thi' Gulf Coast of the Peninsula. Tampa is the terminus of the South 
Floritla Railroad and also of several projected railways whose construction will be 
consumnuited at no distant flay. Steamers ply regularly between Tampa and Key 
West, Havana, New Orleans, Cedar Key and all i)()int.s on Tampa Bay and the Manatee 
Kiver. The hotels are large and commodious; the markets are supplied with the 
lifst lisli, oysters and other salt water delicacies, and in less than twelve months the 
t(»wii will Vie protected against fire by tlie Holly .system of water works. 

A<ldress all coniniunicatioiis relating to subscriptions or advertisements to 

SPEXCKR & SCALBS, 

TAMPA, FLA. 



E. A. Clakke. a. J. Knight. 

^ ^ CLARKE 5 ^^ 

ESTABLISHED 1854. '^ 

One of the oldest established Arms in South Florida — and we proudly refer to our 
long standing and present status in tlie mercantile world, as a proof of our worth and 
populai-ity with our people. 

During the times that "tried men's souls" we were of the people and with the 
people, and endeavoring to give them dollar for dollar. We are yet laboring in the 
same line. 

Every body knows us and our location. Evorj- l)ody knows we deal in 



* GENERAL MERCHANDISE * 




and keep on hand everything a fii-st-elass store should keep : and every 
body knows our 

PRICES ARE REASONABLE, 

and if any one should ask why then do we advertise at all? "We say, because we 
don't want it all, but want to give the papers a chance. We will always be glad to 
see you. Give us a call. 

E, A, CLARKE & CO., 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 




\iYSiDE Nursery, 

FORT MEADE, FLA. 




ORANGE TREES OF ALL SIZES AND VARIETIES ON IHAND, 

Budded fruits and flowers a specialty. Everything delivered t^> 
most distant points in perfect condition. 



THE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY REAL ESTATE AGENCY 



ARE MY AUTHORIZED AGENTS. 



Prices cheerfulh" furnished. 



c. 



L. iVLlTCHBLL, 

FORT MEADE, FLA. 



78 



L. S. Dawes, Dillmgham & Co. 

TAMPA IRON FOUNDRY 



SOMETHING NEW. 



The only Iron Foundry South of Jacksonville. 



All kinds of Work in our line promptly attended to. Patronage Solicited. 



C. W. ANDREWS, . 

?f NOTARY PUBLIC STATE AT LARGE, f. 



-«■• A N D .-g^ 



DEALER IN REAL ESTATE, 



PLANT CITY. HILLSBOROUGH CO.. FLA. 

I offer the lands of the Florida Land and Mortgage Company, and the Florida Land and 
Improvement Company, at graded prices, on time and for cash. I have the finest farming land.'* 
near Plant City, to be found in Florida at low prices; orange groves, improved i)laces, resideni-e 
lots of 5 and 10 acres etc., and offer a large list to select from. Lands bouglit for non-residents, 
taxes paid, groves kept up and improvements made and titles examined. Correspondence 
solicited. Strangers are invited to call at my office, where they will be courteously received. 



WILLIAM M. BIRD & CO., 

201 East Bay Street, Charleston, S. C. 

DEALEKS IX 

PAINTS AN D_2AiNTER_S;_ MATERIAL 

of all Descriptions. 



RAILROAD, STEAMBOAT AND MILL SUPPLIES, 
-SsSHIF" CHANDLERY, ETC.i«- 



AGENTS FOK 



MARVIN'S SAFES AND HOWE'S SCALES. 



Price Lists &c Sample Cards Furnished on Application. 



DOORS, SASH, BLINDS 

und Builders' Hardware, Wholesale and Retail. 



GEO. F. DREW & CO., 

Jacksonville. Fla. 

* MECHANICS' TOOLS JND FARMING IMPLEMENTS. * 

SOLE AGENTS FOK THE STATE OF 

Bucktliorii Barb Wire, Herring's Safes, Buiialo Scales, 
Longman S: Martinez Prepared Paints. 



STEAMBOAT & MILL SUPPL1B.S A SPECIALTY. 

We carry on an extensive 

Plumbing. G-as and Steam Fitting and Tin Shop. 



80 
THOMAS A. CARRUTIi, 

INSURANCE AGENT,^^TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

KEPRESENTING 

Home Insurance Co. (Fire), ot New York Assets, $7,395,090 55 

Continental Insurance Co. (Fire), of New York " 4,938,501 92 

Now York Underwriters' Agency, N. Y " 3,637,180 48 

Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Co " 5,771,959 71 

Hartford Fire Insurance Co., Hartford, Conn " 4,491,830 01 

Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Co., Springfield Mass " 2,562,510 29 

Providence Washington Insurance Co., Providence, B. I " 879,970 82 

New Orleans Insurance Association, New Orleans, La " 530,371 56 

Tlie Traveler's Life and Accident, Hartford, Conn " 7,826,456 83 

E(iuitable Life Insurance Association, New Yoi-k " 58,161,925 54 

Aggregate of assets $96,195,797 71 

All classes of insurable property or lives in any portion ot Hillsborough county placed at 
standard rates. 



J. * T. * BOYETT, • 

REAL* ESTATE* AGENT 

AND NOTARY PUBLIC STATE AT LARGE, 

Has in his hands for sale, $175,000 worth ot improved real estate, consisting of Orange Groves 
ot all ages and sizes : also unim]>roved land of any amount. Prices from ^1.25 to $150 per acre. 
Will locate Homesteads and improve gnnes for non-residents. For further information, address 
me at 

PEEU, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA. 

GEO. B. WEEDON, M. D. F. GHIRA. 

WEEDON & GHIRA, 



-DEALEK-i TN" 



DRUGS AND MEDICINES, 

PAINTS, OILS AND TOILET ARTICLES. 
■ TAMPA, FLORIDA.- 

PEOPLE'S JEWELRY STORE, 

CORNER FRANKLIN- AND JACKSON STREETS, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

A fine stock of Watches, Clocks, Jewelry and Optical Goods constantly on hand. Rare Florida 
Birds, Sea Shells, Sea Beans, coral, etc. The finestcoUeclionof Florida Souvenli-s to be seen in the 
State. Orders by mall or otherwise promptly filled. Fine watch-work, and the fitting of the eyes 
a specialty. Satisfaction guaranteed. Eyes tested without charge. 

C. L. AYRES. PROPRIETOR. 



81 



CRA FT HO USE. 

Quiet Locality. Large, Airy Eooms. 



First-class Private Boarding House. 

Terms, $"2 per clay Apply to 

MRS. HIVIIVIA M. CRAKT, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

generaOusiness agency 

OF 

^W. N. CONOLLY,>^ 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Any and all business attended to promptly. Collections made ; Deeds, Mortgages 
and Contracts dra\\Ti at short notice. Special attention given to land matters of all 
liinds. Correspondence solicited, 



GREAVES & BURTON, 

MANGO, FLORIDA. 

^J. O. BURTON,^ 

^PHYSICIAN AND DRUGGIST,t>o 

Deals in evcrythlug usually kept iu a 

,^KIRSX-CLASS DRUQ STORE. 4€- 



Wm. B. Lyxch. N. p. BrsHOFF. 

SAN ANTONIO, 

HERNANDO COUNTY, FLORIDA, 

^THE ^ AN/LERICAN ^ ITAT.V!^ 

Fine Lands ! Pure Water ! Health Unexcelled ! 

Many acres of beauHful land (Improved runl unlinprciveU) in tliis charming soctlun ef the 
Land of Flowers, are now oITori'd tor sale, l)y us. 

For all Information In regard to the same, address 

LYXeH & BlSHOl-F. RliAL ESTATl- AGEXTS. 
SAN ANTONIO, FLORIDA. 



82 

APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO 
LAND OR INVESTMENTS. 



It' you want a home in Florida apply to this Agency. Facilities unsurpassed by 
any in the State. 



THE TAMPA GUARDIAN, 

TAMPA, FLA. 

" Neutral in Mhmg ; Independent in Everything." 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. 



The Guakdian is in its 11th volume. It gives newsier, fresher, more and bettei 
reading matter than any paper in this section. 

-mm. ^ J. ^f- COOPBR,^ 

EDITOR AND MANAGER. 

BRANCH'S * OPERA * HOUSE. 

The largest and finest Public Hall in South Florida. 



SEATING CAPACITY OF AUDITORIUM AND GALLERY, 800.^ 



— ADDRESS — 

H. * L. ^ BRANCH,^ 

TAMPA, FLOKIDA. 



S. p. HAYDEN, 

LIVERY, SALE AND FEED 

^STABLE.* 

Teams at any and all times. Stables at the 
Also Dealer in General Merchandise. 

TAMPA, FLA. 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save money by it. 



83 

FLORIDA FERTILIZING COMPANY. 
^"FLORIDA ORANGE FOOD."^ 

This Company h.as been organized by orange growers of Florida, for the purpose of proeuring 
a reliable Fertilizer at a reasonable price, and one especially adapted to orange trees and suitable 
to our sandy soils. It has been tested in Florida for the past Ave years, and will prevent the 
scale insect, and has been tested alongside of the high-priced fertilizers, and has been found 
superior to any, as its lasting effects have been shown for two years. It is purely mineral, and 
contains no ammouia. It has a very largo (luantity of potash and phosphoric acid, the ingredi- 
ents most required by the orange tree. 

ANALYSIS. 

Bone phosphate of lime, 30 per cent. ; phosphoric acid. 14 percent.; sulphate potash, 12 per 
cent. : magnesia, t'l pei' cent. ; sulphur. 5 per cent. Price, $23 per ton. 

" Florida Vegetable Food " containing :t per cent, of ammonia, $28 per ton. 

For circulars with full description send to 

-^ E. > T. -> PAINE, ^. PRESIOEN'i ,^ 
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. 

BUY YOUR TICKFFS IN JACKSONVILLE, 

Via East Tennessee, Vii-ginia, Georgia Railroad, North and South, from the courteous 

and popular agent, 

B. H. I-iOPK INS. 

You will find iiiiii equal to all emergencies, and ready to assist all who travel by the 
popular route he represents. 

OFFICE, CORNER HOGAN AND BAY STREETS, 

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. ^ 



HEADQUARTERS FOR FLORIDA FRUIT IN CHARLESTON, S. C. 

C. BART & CO., 



i:\rroRTF.us of 



AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 

-^ i^iS, <: ~7<i<Sz <y .~0 <^ MA]>;ivK'r :•> STREET,^ 

CHAR^I-iESTON, S. O., 

Uespecttully ijflfer their services to the growers of Florida, f<ir the sale of Oranges, Melons 
and Vegetables. References: First National, and Peoi)le's National Bank, Charleston, s! C, and 
Chemical National Bank, New York. 



C. FL.OYD, 



-PE.\TiElt IN- 



WINES,WHISKEY AND CIGARS, 

DRAUOHT BEER A SPECIALTY. 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



84 



APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO 
LAND OR INVESTMENTS. 



If you want a home in Florida apply to this agency. Facilities unsurpassed by 
any in the State. 



J. C. FIELD. 

PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE 

PHOT OGRA PH KR. 

Views of Tampa and vicinity for sale. 

OLD PICTURES COPIED A.ND ENLARGED. 



<BOX 225, TAMPA, FLORIDA.> 



MRS. F. C. BINKLEY, 

* uMs^FiSlNG JOODS,* 

-^NEXT TO OPERA HOUSE,^ 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

HERMAN GLOWGOSKI, 



-DEALER IN- 



CLOTHING AND GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS. 

BOOTS AND SHOES, HATS AND CAPS, 
TAMPA, FLOKIDA.— 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save money. 



85 

If you want a home in Florida apply to tliis Agency. Facilities unsurpassed by 
any in the State. 



Apply to this Agency for anything referring to land or investments. 



W. K. WINGATE, 

Miller & Henderson Block, Tampa, Fla. 

GENERAL MERCHANDISE^ 



-AND 



^IFANCY GROCERY STORE. 

DEALEE IN VEGETABLES AND COUNTRY PEODUCE. 

-^W. G. FERRIS,^ 

DEALEK IN 



I GENERAL MERCHANDISE,! 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, 

CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND MONROE STREETS, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



JOHN "r. LESLKV & CO., 

TAMPA. FLORIDA. 

^DRUGGISTS, * PHARMACISTS 

AND DE.VLEKS IN 

DRUGS. MEDICINES AND CHEMICALS, 
Fancy and Toilet Articles, Sponges, Brushes, Perfumery and Cigars, 

Physicians' Prescriptions Accurately Compounded. 

Pliysiclans and country dcnliT.s will find our .stock complete and prices as low as any in the 
State. All orders :vlll receive careful an<l prompt attention. Satisfaction guaranteed. 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save money by it. 



86 

APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO LAND OR 
INVESTMENTS. 



If you want a home in Florida apply to this Agency. Facilities unsurpassed by 
anj' in the State. 



^KIB BEE HO USE l> 

RESTAURA NT AND BOARDING. 

NICE AIRY ROOMS. 

NEXT TO THE OPERA HOUSE, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



TIVOLA SALOON, 

Sample Room and Billiard Parlor, 

Jackson Street, one door west of Franklin, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA.- 

^WA/[. H. WKBB, PROPRIKTOR.^ 



Always on haud, the Quest brands of Brandies, Whiskies, Gins, Wines, Beer and Cigars. 
Fancy Drlnlcs, compounded by an ext)erienced compounder of drinks and beverages, a specialty. 
Give him a call. 



J. P. ANDREW, 

WHOIiEIiALE DEALElt IN 

FINE LIQUORS, WINES, CIGARS. 

FANCY BAR AND BILLIARD HALL. 

-^AN ORDKRLV HOUSE KERT.^C- 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Write to this Agency lor information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. Y'oii can save monev ])v it. 



87 

ARPtvY TO THIS AOEKCY KOK ^^.NVTHING REKERRINO TO 
IvATMlD OR IXVESTMliNTS. 



If you want a home in Florida apj^ly to this Agency. Facilities unsurpassed by 
any in the State. 



A. PREVATT & CO.. 



Deah'r-( in all kinds < 



FISH, ^ OYSTERS, ^^ FRUIT, ^ VEGETABLES 

^ AND * POULTRY,^ 

TAMPA, FLOKIDA.-^ 

ORDERS PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO. 

'^STEWART" JACKSON, 

wild has liad tliirty years' experience as " Steamboat Cook," keeps a first-class 

^RKSTAUl^ANT^ 



MEALS AT ALL HOURS. 

- CAN/[RBELL BLOCK, -- 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 

RESTAURANT AND ICE CREAM PARLOR, 

LAFAYETTE ST., NEAR TAMPA ST. 
FIRST-CLASS IN ALL APPOINTMENTS. 



The undersigned have opened the above place, which will be kept in first-class style In every 
respect, and open the year round. Special attention will be given to the table, which will be 
supplied with the best the market affords, and meals served at all hours. Ice Cream, Ice(J Tea. 
Milk, Cool Drinks and Confectioneries always on hand, and families or parties supplied on short 

-^J. M. EDDINS & TINDOLPH, PROPRIETORS,^ 

TAMPA, FLOEIDA. 



Write to this Agency for information on tlie best and clieapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save nionev. 



88 

APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO 
LAND OR INVESTMENTS. 



If you want a home in Florida apply to this agency. Facilities unsui-passed by 
any in the State. 

W. F. BURTS & CO., 

Wholesale ami Retail Dealer In 

GROCERIES, HARDWARE,^ 



GRAIN, HAY AND PRODUCE. 

Produce taken in exchange for goods. Give us a call. 
-m PLANT :^ CITY, :: FLORIDA.^ 

PEMBERTON & ROBERTS, 

DEALERS IN 

DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, 

FURNITURE AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE, 

^ PLANT CITY, FLORIDA.^C- 

We carry a full and heavy stock, and sell at the lowest cash prices. Buy from us and 



COLLINS & FRANKLIN, 



-THE OLD liELIABLE- 



Dry* Goods ^ and ^ Grocery* House, 

Keep constantly a full supply of 

• OBNERAL MKRCHANDISE. 



The first established house in 

PLANT CITY, KLORIDA. 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to this part 
of Florida. You can save money by it. 



89 



R. B. McLENDON. 



W. H. YOUNG. 



McLendon & Young, 



REAL* ESTATE >:> AGENTS 



0^5^ 




c5?^g>-o 



PLANT CITY, FLORIDA. 



If you want a bearing orange grove or a nice young grove, unimproved farming 
or gardening lands in the vicinity of tliis young and rapidly growing town, which is 
situated in Hillsborough — the best county in the State for growing all tropical and semi- 
tropical fruits, vegetables, sugar cane, corn, oats, rye, peas, potatoes, (Irish and 
sweet,) and other things too numerous to mention, now is the time to buy. We have 
several nice residences, also business and residence lots in town which we are offer- 
ing low, for cash, if sold soon. 

We have good vehicles and will take pleasure in showing you our country, free of 
charge. Correspondence solicited. See article on Plant City. 



90 



Apply to this Agency for anything referring to land or investments. 



nUGUST PETERvSON, 

Sign and Ornamental 



D M. WELLS, M. D., 



PAINTER AND GRAINER. y„„ ^,. gypg^Of^^ 



Paper Hanger and House Fitter 

Satisfaction Guaranteed 

TAMPA. FLORIDA. 



PL.\NT CITY, FLORIDA. 



F. 



P. SECLOR. 



R. 



B. McLENDON, 



DRUGGIST & PHARMACIST, 



Proprietor, 



Dealer in 



Drugs, Chemicals, Fancy and Toilet 
Articles, etc. 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



PLANT CITY HOTEL. 

Accommodations good, and board at reasonable 
rates. 

PLAXT CITY, FLORIDA. 



^^ E. HAYNSWORTH, J B. ROBINSON, 

TINNER AND JOBBER GENERALLY, """"■• 



Keeps constantly on hand Cooking and Warm- 
ing Stoves, Roof-flanges of different pitch for 
side or comb of roof, and Stove-piping of all 
sizes and kinds. House Furnishing Tins, such 
as Valleys and Flashings: also Shingle Tins. 

Roofing and Guttering a Specialty. 

T.\MPA, FLORIDA. 



ROBINSON HOUSE. 

Board by the day or week at reasonable rates .. 
accommodations good. 

Give us a trial. 

PLANT CITY, FLORIDA. 



Write to tlii.>> Agency for information ou the best and eheape.'-t route Li this part 
of Florida. You can save nionev by it. 



91 



Apply to this Agency for anything referring to land or investments. 



W. 



J. MORSE, 



L 



EO. TAUFKIKCH, 



ARCHITECT AND BUILDER, BUILDER AND CONTRACTOR, 



TAMPA. FLORIDA. 



TA5IPA. FLORIDA. 



HK. J. A. GIDDENS, 



D 



R. DUFF POST, 



* DENTIST.* * DENTIST.* 



GraiUiate of Peuusylvaula College, Philacleli)lHa. 

Gas administered. 

Offii-e over Mactarlaue & Cleaveland's Shoe 
SU>re, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Office Hours : 
'.I A. M. to 12 M., and 2 to r. p. U. 



Office over Leonardl Jt Co.'s Drug Store 
TAMPA. FLORIDA. 



D 



it. M. M. HILL, 



H 



AMPTON & JONES, 



PHYSICIAN P.^" SURGEON, REAL ESTATE AGENTS. 



Office over Leonardi's Drug Store. 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to tliis part 
of Florida. You can save monev bv it. 



92 



Apply to this Agency for anything referring to land or investments. 



pETTINGILL & CO., 


J H. WELLS, 


STATIONERY, 


MACHINE SHOP. 


School and Blank Books, Wall Paper, Pictures 


All kinds of Mill Supplies furnished and all 


and Frames. Stationers' Specialties of all sorts 


kinds of repairing In iron and steel done on 


at wholesale and retail. Circulating Library. 


short notice. 


Franklin Street, 




TAMPA, FLORIDA. 


TAMPA, FLORIDA. 


J T. GUNN & CO., 


lUES. S. D. VAUGHAN, 


Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 


Ladies' Hats, Hosiery, Shoes, etc. Dresses made 


Staple and Fancy 


to order. 


r^T^ or^i^T^ T T^^ 


A/TTT T TTvTT^T^^^ 



Flour, Grits, Meal and Bacon, etc. 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



H 



EEMANN & WEISSBEOD, 



Manufacturers of 



Fancy and Dress Goods. 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



C. 



L. FEIEBELE, 

Old Reliable 



SADDLES AND HARNESS. GENERAL MERCHANDISE, 



Repairing nicely and cheaply done. 

Buggies nicely re-covered. 

T.\MPA, FLORIDA. 



House established in 18.58. 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Write to this Agency for information on the best and cheapest I'oute to this part 
of Florida. You can save money by it. 



93 



PROKESSIONAIv PAOE. 



U AMMOND ct JOHNSON, 



U/ALL & TUBMAN, 



ATTORNEYS AT LAW, i ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 



Office opposite Campbell Block, 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Office 111 the Opera House, 
TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



S. M. Si'ARKMAN, 

state's Attorney, 



G. B. SPARKMAN, LUCItTS FINLEY. 

Notary Public 



BARRON Phillips. 



S. M. A- G. B. SPAKKMAN, 

ATTORNEYS .IT LAW 

And Solicitors in Chauoery, 

Will practice in all the State Courts of South 
Florida and the United States Circuit and Dis- 
trict lor the Southern District of Florida. 



FINLEY & PHILLIPS. 

ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 



Office In Henderson's Building, 



TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



LjUGH C. MACFAKLANE, 



W 



M. J. BERRY, 



ATTORNl^Y AT LAW, FIRST-CLASS TINNER. 



Office over Macfarlaue i: Cleavelaud's Shoe 

Store, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Guttering and Roofing done in best style. 

Ghira Building, 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 



Write to this Agency for information on ttie best antl cheapest route to this p;irt 
of Florida. Y'ou can save money by it. 



94 

APPLY TO THIS AGENCY FOR ANYTHING REFERRING TO 
LAND OR INVESTMENTS. 



If you* want a home in Florida apply to this Agency. Facilities unsurpassed 1iy 
any in the State. 



Jas. H. Bkown. J- Geddie Fkaser. 

BROWN & ERASER, 

-^ PLASTERBRS,^ 

TAMPA, FLORIDA. 
Brick Work, Cementing and Kalsomining. 

CORNICING -:;:- AND * ORNAMENTING -:> A -:;:- SPECIALTY. 

Work done in any part of the State. All work guaranteed. 



TAMPA LUMBER COMPANY, 

Manufacturers of all kinds ot 

Fine * Lumber * Brackets * and * Mouldings. 



ALL KINDS OF FANCY WORK DONE. 



KOREION AND HONdE ORDKRS SOLICITED. 



NEW PAINT HOUSE, 

J.VCKSON STREET, TAMPA, FLA. 

A. B. MCKKNZIK, PROPRIKTTOR, 

Has just reooived and will keep constantly on hand a full supply of paints, oils, glass, putty, 
varnishes and all painters' and glaziers' supplies. Orders for work in any kind of painting, var- 
nishing, glazing and kalsomining will receive prompt attention. Estimates of any work fur- 
nished. Give us a call and work, and satisfaction guaranteed. 



Write to tliis Agency for information on the best and cheapest route to lliis part 
of Florida. Yo\i can save money hy it. 



95 



THE SOUTH FLORIDA RfllLROflD 



This popular tourist route and imporliiiu freight Hue eoiuiecis Tainiia with .lacksouviUc ami 
the eastern coast of Florida, via the St. Johns river. Upon the southern shore of I.ake Monroe, 
ii i)ortion of the St. Johns, Is Santord, the eastern terminus of the road in Orange county. 

From Sanford the road runs in a southwesterly course to Tampa, 115 miles, passing through 
the most beautiful and i>roductive section of Soutli Florida. From the car window the tourist 
sees constant changes of landscape and new scenes of beauty, as he is whirled around and among 
the sparkling fresli water lakes that dot the entire surface of the cfiuntry in Orange, Polk and 
Hillsborough counties. In Orange county are seen thriving orange groves and evidences of pros- 
perity and thrift not equaled in any other place in the South. 

Orange county is referred to as especially prosperous and thrifty, not because it is an older 
settled county, but because it has had for a longer time better transpoi-tation facilities tlian 
those enjoyed by the counties of Polk and Hillsborough further to the west; but the amazing 
strides that these two counties have made during the past year, since the South Florida Railroad 
has been opened to the Gulf of Mexico, give promise that at no distant future they will not only 
eiiual but outstrip their more advanced neiglibor. Orange county, in the race for wealth. 

The Soil along the line of the road is sandy, but capable of an extraordinary j)roduction and 
is wonderfully responsive to cultivation and care. In the hammocks a deep and fertile soil is 
found, and there can be grown, without the aid of fertilizer, all the products that man can de- 
sire. While the line of the South Florida Railroad passes through this delightful scenery and 
these rich lands It is important, not alone for its local business and to those who dwell along the 
line, but it connects South Florida with the North and West by lines of steamers and rail, giv- 
ing rapid and safe transportation to those who travel either tor T)usine9s or pleastire, and to the 
tender fruits and vegetables which are, by it, pushed forward, without delay, to the Northei-n anil 
Western markets. 

Kt Sanfonl a line of fast mail steamers connects with the fast mail trains of the South Flori- 
da Railroad, and makes the run in one night from Sanford to Jacksonville, there connecting with 
the fast mall trains of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, over the .\tlantic Coast line 
lor New York. 

Within a few weeks an all rail outlet from Hillsborough county, Tampa and points on the 
line of the South Florida Railroad, will be opened via Lakeland, Gainesville and Savannah, re- 
ducing the time from Tampa to Savannah more than eight hours and taking the productions of 
the west coast of Florida, without reloading or change of cars, direct from Tampa to tlie ship's 
side at Savannah; or, if rail transportation be preferred, to Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York 
and Boston. I( a Western market is desired the same jjroduce can be carried there without 
change, without delay — thus Insuring to producers on the west coast the surest and (piickest 
transportation known in the South. 

.\11 property along the line is rapidly increasing in value and the new towns and villages con- 
stantly springing up, give evidence that th<)9e who have settled in Florida have come to stay and 
make the State their future and permanant home. It is the policy of the South Florida Railroad 
to encourage immigration and settlement on the land near its line and to offer to those who come 
to build up the country all the inducements consistent with strict business principles. The I'oad 
is first class In every respect, steel rails, a smooth road bed. first class (■(juipment, air brakes. 
Jauney couplers and platforms, heavy and powerful locomotives and a large corps of men on 
freight trains insures a rapid handling of freight, while careful management and strict orders 
and regulations guarantee that property shall be properly cared for and safely delivered at des- 
tination or to connecting lines. Passenger trains will compare favorably with those on tlio 
largest Northern roads and parlor cars give comfort and elegance to those desiring the luxury. 
at a lower )>rico than is generally charged for similar service elsewliere. 



96 

The principal towns along the line of the South Florida Railroad are Sanford, Longwood, Or- 
lando, Kissimmee, Auburndale, Bartow, Lakeland, Plant City and Tampa. At Lakeland a branch 
of the South Florida Ballroad extends north to Pemberton Ferry, there connecting with the 
Florida Southern Railroad which extends to CTainosvllle, at which point it connects with the 
Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, giving quick transportation ti^ all points in the North, 
East, South and West. Telegraph ofQces are at all these stations named and visitors will find 
good hotels and ample accommodations at all seasons of the year. At Tampa, the western ter- 
minus of the road, connection is made with steamers (during the season) for Havana, Key 
West, New Orleans, Cedar Key and all points on the west coast. This Is a favorite passenger line 
to Havana, as by taking It passengers avoid the long and tedious voyage from New York and save 
the miseries of sea sickness, making shorter time to Havana than by any other line. As an in- 
stance of the time to Havana, New York papers of Wednesday are delivered by this route, in 
Havana, on Sunday morning. At Tampa, connecting daily with the trains from Sanford, the fast 
and elegant steamer " Margaret " of the people's line (the same line that operates the fast mail 
service on the St. Johns river) makes dally trips to all points on Manatee river, that is : Palma 
Sola, Braidentown, Palmetto, Manatee and Ellenton, the great vegetable producing section of 
Florida, and she also stops at that Gem of the Gulf, Egmont Key. The sail down the Bay from 
Tampa to Manatee river is one that no traveler should miss ; for the beauties of this trip are un- 
excelled in the United States, and the bay is said to equal in beauty the far-famed Bay of Naples. 

Twice each week mail steamers leave Tampa for Key West, making the run to that noted city 
and returning the following day; thus bringing to Tampa from Key West and Havana the varied 
products of those tropical regions. 

The health of the country through which the road passes, will not only compare favorably 
with other sections of the South, but the health statistics of the Ifnited States show that the per- 
centage of deaths from sickness is smaller in Florida than in any other State in the Union. All 
the more violent forms of sickness known In the North, such as diphtheria, pneumonia, scarlet 
fever, etc.. etc., are here unknown, and, by ordinary prudence, even the slightest case of chills 
and fever can be avoided. 

For full particulars and information apply to, 

KREDERICK H. RAND, 

General Freight and Passenger Agent, S. F. R. R., 

SANFORD, FLORIDA. 









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